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Texas Agriculture Archive

March 21, 2003

Animal Health Commission
cuts worry TFB

By Lana Robinson
Field Editor

When the budget belt tightens, agriculture, like everything else, gets squeezed. Impacts of the budget shortfall are already being felt across the state with more trimming yet to be done in Austin.

State agencies received a directive to cut their respective budgets by 7 percent, which put a damper on a number of programs directly benefitting the state's agricultural producers, and, indirectly, Texas consumers. To date, Texas Agricultural Commissioner Susan Combs cancelled a series of Town Hall Meetings for producers that were scheduled to take place in various regions of the state this month. And the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station closed research farms at Yoakum, Angleton, and Munday. But of particular concern to Texas Farm Bureau, with respect to announced reductions, are changes and delays resulting from funding cuts at the Texas Animal Health Commission.

"TAHC is getting a $3.2 million cut over the biennium, which is a pretty serious cut," said Jon Johnson, Texas Farm Bureau's associate director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities. "I guess the question is, how far and at what point does it start jeopardizing the animal health industry in Texas?"

According to TAHC, new Texas livestock health regulations for Mexican-origin feeder, rodeo and roping cattle, set to go into effect April 1, 2003, will not be enforced until at least Aug. 1, after agency budgets are finalized. The rules were aimed at protecting Texas cattle herds from cattle tuberculosis (TB), a contagious disease that can cause infected animals to develop internal lesions in their lungs, in lymph nodes or in internal organs, making them unusable at slaughter.

"The TB working group had come up with a deal to test rodeo cattle and to permit the steers and heifers (Mexican origin), and to test dairy herds and a percentage of the purebred herd. All of that has been put on hold," Johnson reported, March 10. "Apparently, there are no funds available to do the testing. Now they're saying, we'll do the testing if USDA's going to pay for it, but the California dairies pretty much emptied USDA coffers."

According to Johnson, new regulations call for a USDA veterinarian to test steers, heifers, stockers, and rodeo cattle originating in Mexico at the border, after which the livestock would be held in quarantine for 60 to 120 days and then retested. Afterwards, they would be required to have an annual test. Current laws only require that they test negative for TB at least 30 days before entry into the U.S.

"That seems to be where the risk is, in those Mexican cattle," he said. "Those roping steers move all over the place. There is a lot of exposure. Owners put them out with other cattle and then gather them up for an event. I read where one fellow in West Texas was leasing roping steers. He had 1,100 to 1,200 head...The responsibilities that the animal health commission has in terms of protecting the public health by livestock inspections and monitoring imports of livestock is extremely important. Certainly, we are concerned about agency cuts."

Johnson said TAHC really gets a remarkable amount of work done, considering that the agency only has 96 inspectors statewide and mounting animal health issues to address. This agency of 200 could lose 12 employees, he said.

"Those guys do anything and everything. One of their main functions is that they inspect livestock at auction barns. Then they were given the responsibility of the riding stables last year, and with no increase in funding. The stables had been under the Texas Department of Health because it's really more of an animal welfare issue. They also inspect slaughter plants in a particular area at least once a month, or they're supposed to. Then any time you have a disease outbreak, it involves trace-ins and trace-outs of those animals going into those herds. There were 80 or 90 trace-outs related to the TB outbreak in Flatonia. This takes an incredible amount of time. They've got to try to find these animals. They can probably cut in some areas, and prioritize. Like this riding stables stuff. That could go way down the list," Johnson suggested.

There are plenty of diseases to keep animal health officials busy, Johnson noted. Beyond tuberculosis, brucellosis is an important health concern for cattle, along with Johne's disease in dairy cattle. Diseases for which hogs are at risk include pseudo rabies and swine brucellosis. For poultry, it's avian influenza and Exotic Newcastle disease. With horses, livestock health officials must keep a watchful eye out for West Nile virus and equine infectious anemia. Scrapie is of particular concern with respect to sheep and goats, and for wildlife, although it hasn't shown up in Texas, CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) is a threat.

"Your feral hogs are out there, and they're infected with brucellosis and pseudo rabies," said Johnson. "In Texas, the commission has been trying to develop some kind of rules to protect domestic herds from feral hogs. That can affect your pseudorabies status. There are five stages and we're at Stage 4. Cuts may also affect this important work."

Johnson said a bill by Kim Brimer (R-Fort Worth) in response to budget cuts, which would impose user fees to fund the Texas Animal Health Commission, is unacceptable.

"Our policy is very explicit. It says we're opposed to user fees being assessed to finance the TAHC or any other regulatory agency. We also oppose combining it with any other state agency," he said.

According to Ken Hodges, TFB associate legislative director, SB 849 by Brimer would authorize the Texas Animal Health Commission to charge user fees for their inspections.

"Our policy states that services which serve primarily a public benefit should be provided at public cost," noted Hodges. "Only those services which primarily benefit the individual or business should be subject to a user fee. Texas Farm Bureau will work with the legislature to make sure the objectives, methods, and funding levels for the animal health commission are adequate to protect the health of the livestock industry."