USAHA News Alerts

1. FSIS issues notice on importation of Canadian cattle
By Drovers news source
December 3, 2009

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued Notice 80-09: Importation of Canadian Cattle, Bison, Sheep and Goats in the United States. This notice provided updated information to FSIS inspection program personnel (IPP) about the receipt, slaughter and inspection of cattle, bison, sheep and goats imported from Canada.

Key points include the following:

* Bovines born after March 1, 1999, arriving from Canada are eligible for slaughter.
* Verification of animals coming from the feedlot refers to activities involving sheep and goats only in this
notice and no longer involves bovines.
* IPP are to conduct another awareness meeting at establishments that have chosen to, or that may choose
to, receive ruminants from Canada.
* FSIS will no longer hold pregnant bovines. Pregnant cattle and bison are now eligible for slaughter.
* Collection of fetal bovine serum from the fetuses of Canadian animals is no longer prohibited.
* The notice identifies a new a place to send the VS Form 1-27, "Permit for Movement of Restricted
Animals"

Full text: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISNotices/80-09.pdf

2. Bishop calls for status quo at Plum Island
Congressman sees no benefit in selling or closing island lab
By Erin Schultz
Riverhead Times-Review
December 3, 2009

Months after the federal government announced plans to sell Plum Island, Southampton Congressman Tim Bishop says he advocates a transfer to another governmental agency instead of an open sale.

To Tim Bishop, putting Plum Island on the market makes little to no economic sense. Neither does spending millions to close and sell the federal animal disease center and build a new national bio- and agro-defense facility in Manhattan, Kan.

Which is why the Democratic congressman from Southampton sent a letter last Wednesday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, raising serious concerns about the proposed transaction.

"Given the potential dangers and mounting budget deficits, many have questioned the wisdom of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to create a massive new research facility that would duplicate many of the functions currently served by Plum Island and other federal facilities," Mr. Bishop wrote. "I would like to reaffirm my support for continuing operations at the BSL-3 facility on Plum Island and finding more cost-effective solutions to meet our additional national agro-defense research needs by expanding existing facilities around the country."

Full text:
http://www2.timesreview.com/NR/stories/R120309_Plum_ES

3. FWP biologists, volunteers cull sick bighorns in East Fork of Bitterroot
By Perry Backus
The Missoulian
December 3, 2009

HAMILTON - On horseback, foot and in pickup truck, biologists and volunteers fanned out in the hills of the East Fork of the Bitterroot on Wednesday in an effort to slow the spread of a disease that's killing bighorn sheep.

Over the course of the day, they collected eight bighorns that had either died or were exhibiting the symptoms of pneumonia.

"We're trying to get to as many sick sheep as we can find," said Craig Jourdonnais, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' Bitterroot-based biologist. "So far we are still batting 100 percent. All of the animals that we've collected were in some stage of pneumonia."

The dead sheep were brought back to a mobile state wildlife laboratory where researchers took tissue, blood and fecal samples that could eventually help unlock some of the secrets on what causes periodic die-offs in bighorn sheep herds.

The effort in the East Fork to aggressively cull sick and dying bighorn sheep from the herd to try to slow the spread of the disease is a first for the state.

"A lot of different things have been tried in the past, but none have really worked," Jourdonnais said. "We're hoping that by targeting those sheep that are for sure infected, we might be able to save some ... the approach is somewhat exploratory, but we know for sure what is going to happen if we do nothing."

In the past, some bighorn herds infected with pneumonia in Montana have seen dramatic die-offs in the 60 percent to 80 percent range.

So far, Jourdonnais and others have collected almost 40 bighorns from a herd that is estimated to be somewhere close to 200.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/yhkccm8

4. Ted Turner gets OK for Yellowstone bison on ranch
By Matthew Brown
Associated Press
December 3, 2009

BILLINGS, Mont. - The head of Montana's wildlife agency has given preliminary approval to a plan calling for 74 bison from Yellowstone National Park to go to billionaire Ted Turner's private ranch.

Officials hope to eventually use the bison to establish new herds on public lands. But conservationists see the move as privatizing Montana wildlife.

The bison have been held in federal quarantine for the past several years to make sure they don't have the animal disease brucellosis.

Turner offered to hold them for five years - the duration of the quarantine program - in exchange for keeping 90 percent of their offspring. That could amount to about 190 animals to offset his costs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the quarantine in Corwin Springs, Mont., also opposes the move.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/ybg6wez

5. Referendum initiative on U.S. beef to be submitted to CEC [Taiwan]
Taiwan News
December 3, 2009

Taipei (CNA) -- A civic initiative that calls for a referendum on U.S. beef imports will be submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) next week following the completion of a first-stage signature drive, an organizer said Thursday.

A total of 206,880 signatures have already been collected for the initiative, which demands a re-opening of talks with Washington on U.S. beef imports, according to Hsieh Tien-jen, chairman of the Consumers' Foundation, which is leading the movement.

Hsieh urged consumers who have not signed the petition to take part in the second phase of the signature drive, in which the foundation hopes to collect 1.2 million signatures.

Taipei and Washington signed a protocol Oct. 22 under which Taiwan agreed to lift its ban on U.S. bone-in beef and certain other beef products, including ground beef and beef offal, sparking a huge public outcry.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/yfclq9e

6. Foot-and-mouth disease still uncontained, says official [Vietnam]
Thanh Nien Daily
December 3, 2009

(VNA) -- Vietnam is yet to curb the foot and mouth disease among cattle, which has recently recurred in 15 provinces, Hoang Van Nam, deputy head of the Animal Health Department said on Tuesday.

The viral disease is spreading strongly mainly because of the low rate of vaccinations and the lack of proper checks on cattle transported among localities and across borders, Nam said at a meeting on controlling bird flu and foot-and-mouth diseases held in Hanoi.

Nam said the department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has established four teams of inspectors to check the epidemic status in the affected localities, mainly in the northern and central regions, and seek solutions to control it.

For the moment the National Committee of Bird Flu and Foot and Mouth Disease Control has asked the provinces to quarantine sick cattle instead of killing them, and strengthen vaccination at the same time, according to the meeting.

In June the department had said that Vietnam had successfully curbed the spread of the foot-and-mouth disease as well as bird flu and the blue ear pig diseases.

Source: http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=54023

7. Genomic research leads to animal health discoveries [edited]
Media-Newswire.com
December 3, 2009

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Every day researchers in the Michigan State University's Department of Animal Science take another step toward controlling some of the most economically damaging animal diseases, thanks in large part to the MSU Center for Animal Functional Genomics.

The CAFG, established in 2002, provides animal science researchers the technology to observe animal physiological changes, down to the cellular level.

"Functional genomics provides a peek into the 'DNA black box' by linking a trait or characteristic, such as disease resistance or milk production, with specific genes. These findings yield new knowledge about physiological functions such as milk secretion, immune response, digestion and metabolism at the cell level," said Paul Coussens, director of the CAFG. "This is done by determining which genes are turned on or off in specific types of cells as a result of treatments, physiological changes or environmental conditions."

Since its beginning, the CAFG has been at the center of several critical research projects, including the landmark sequencing of the domestic cattle genome, released in April 2009. MSU researchers were among the 300-member worldwide team working together to annotate and analyze the bovine genome sequence.

That opens the door to new discoveries in both animal and human health. The bovine genome was found to include 22,000 genes, 80 percent of which are shared with humans. Thus, researchers conclude, cattle are much more similar to humans than humans are to rats. Yet 98 percent of biomedical research is conducted using mice.

Center-associated research on Johne's disease in cattle, with an estimated $200 million annual impact on the U.S. dairy industry, has generated millions of dollars worth of federal grants and produced more than 15 peer-reviewed papers.

The most revolutionary work on Johne's disease is just reaching the completion stage: developing a vaccine. Through a grant from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Johne's Disease Integrated Program, several potential vaccines are being tested using, in part, gene expression to determine the vaccine's effectiveness.

Full text: http://media-newswire.com/release_1107220.html