The Montana Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) continues to represent their producer members affected by the brucellosis issue. MFBF is working to assure ranchers in the Designated Surveillance Area (DSA) can clear their herds of the stigma associated with being regionally separated, proving that they are free of brucellosis, and relieving ranchers in the DSA of the onerous restrictions placed on them.
MFBF is doing everything in their power to help alleviate both the financial and operational burdens placed on producers in the DSA,” notes Les Graham, who is working for MFBF on this issue. MFBF opposes the Department of Livestock’s proposal to mandate official calfhood vaccinations for all heifer calves against brucellosis. MFBF supports only vaccinating heifer calves intended for breeding or those imported into the state for breeding purposes.
MFBF remains opposed to any form of “split state” status and supports aggressive action to eradicate brucellosis in wildlife as the most important step in permanently eliminating the disease in livestock. MFBF will seek to evaluate the economic burden the DSA places on cattle producers in the seven-county area and determine if those costs are justified and how they may be reduced or eliminated in the future. MFBF is committed to finding a solution to this difficult challenge that equally protects the long term interests of all Montana cattlemen and women, whether inside or outside an arbitrarily.