LANSING, Mich. — Routine bovine Tuberculosis surveillance testing conducted by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the USDA recently found two bovine TB positive beef herds in Alpena County in the Modified Accredited Zone.
Counties
The MAZ is comprised of Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, Oscoda and Presque Isle counties in northeastern Lower Michigan, and is a USDA designation for the purposes of disease testing and eradication.
Both farms are currently quarantined and no cattle may enter or leave the farm premises until testing clears the farms of bovine TB, either through premises depopulation, or a test and remove process.
Proposal
Since the bovine TB eradication effort began, all of Michigan’s 14,000 cattle farms have tested for the disease. MDARD recently submitted a proposal to move Presque Isle County out of the MAZ and into the Modified Accredited Advanced Zone, which is one step closer to being bovine TB-free.
The proposed MAAZ will be Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, Otsego, and Presque Isle counties. The Upper Peninsula is Bovine TB-free; and the recent application to USDA asked for the lower 57 counties of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to be listed as TB-free as well.
