Federal animal disease representatives on Wednesday officially recognized Wyoming as "brucellosis-free," but there are no guarantees the state won't have to repeat its two years of intensive effort to regain that status in the future.

Brucellosis-free status means that cattle herds in the state have been free of any new brucellosis outbreaks for the previous 12 months. Brucellosis is a disease that can cause abortions in cattle and is endemic in greater Yellowstone bison and elk herds - especially those elk herds that winter on federal and state feedgrounds.

Jerry Diemer, associate director of veterinary services for the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, presented the Wyoming Livestock Board with a brucellosis-free certificate on Wednesday in Casper. The presentation ends a two-year period when state livestock producers bore testing costs and other regulatory burdens imposed by APHIS.

Speaking on the heels of a winter livestock convention at the Parkway Plaza, Diemer congratulated the Livestock Board, the governor's brucellosis task force, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the state's cattle producers "for all your hard work. I want you to know that that work is recognized by other states."

State Veterinarian Dwayne Oldham also thanked the state's cattle producers and sale barn operators, but noted that, "We still have hard work ahead to keep our status and ensure it doesn't happen again, or if it does, stop it quickly."

Not everyone is sure that brucellosis won't crop up again in cattle, particularly in northwest counties that border Yellowstone National Park or include elk feedgrounds.

"Neither wildlife nor livestock conditions have changed much in northwest Wyoming with the continuing feedground management, so it's surprising that APHIS would restore the state's brucellosis-free status," said Meredith Taylor of the Wyoming Outdoor Coalition.

Taylor has long been a critic of elk feedgrounds as breeding grounds for disease. While a range of conservation groups recommend phasing out elk feedgrounds, Taylor also praised the voluntary efforts of Red Rock Ranch and Buffalo Valley Ranch in fencing their cattle in and elk out of winter cattle feedlines, as well as the ongoing habitat improvement efforts of the Jackson Hole Interagency Habitat Initiative.

"That's the ultimate solution to elk and cattle commingling," Taylor said. Commingling is widely seen by the cattle industry as the source of brucellosis infection, transferred from elk to cattle. However, outside of laboratory facilities, such transmission has never been scientifically documented.

Jim Magagna, executive director of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said ranchers in the six counties near Yellowstone and the feedgrounds are hard at work developing individual herd management plans, to address commingling and other problems.

"We we like is that these plans are site specific, rather than one size fits all," Magagna said.

While all ranchers in those six counties are required to conduct regular blood tests to check for the presence of the brucellosis bacterium, Magagna said he'd like to see testing move away from countywide programs to a case-by-case basis on individual ranches.

Magagna said the elk feedgrounds should continue, as should the Game and Fish Department's test-and-slaughter program to remove infected elk.

"I really do believe that ultimately, brucellosis can be eradicated in wildlife," Magagna said. He'd like to see much more emphasis put on vaccine development, because a vastly expanded test-and-slaughter program would generate "bad public relations."

Last summer, an APHIS official said livestock diseases have never been eradicated historically, except through test-and-slaughter programs.

NewsTracker

* Last we knew: Wyoming regained its "brucellosis-free" status from the federal government.

* The latest: Federal officials presented a certificate to Wyoming agriculture representatives Wednesday.

* What's next: State officials and cattle producers are working on plans to prevent transmission of brucellosis from wildlife to livestock.