PUBLISHED BY MANITOBA BEEF PRODUCERS
VOL. 15 NO. 1 FEBRUARY 2013
NEW COORDINATOR TO LEAD TB ERADICATION EFFORTS Ray Armbruster has experienced the effects of bovine tuberculosis more than any cattle producer should ever have to. In 1997-98, Armbruster had his entire herd of around 130 cattle, including cows, herd sires and calves, eradicated when several animals tested positive for bovine TB on his farm north of Rossburn bordering Riding Mountain National Park. It took roughly eight months for the resulting quarantine on Armbruster’s farm to be lifted and even longer for him and his family to get back on their feet financially. “Where it really hit us was, we lost a whole year’s production because all these cows were pregnant and we weren’t able to bring in cattle,” he says. “It was kind of like starting over. It took quite a few years to build the herd back up.” Tested more times than Armbruster can remember, his herd is stressed repeatedly by being rounded up, put through the chute, given a skin test and then run through again 72 hours later to check the results. But perhaps the worst part was the initial reluctance by officials to believe Armbruster’s insistence that the real problem was with the wildlife inside the park, not the cattle outside it. Armbruster became a poster boy for other TB-affected producers in the Riding Mountain area by doggedly lobbying government officials for years with a simple message: it’s got to be the wildlife.
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His persistence paid off when the authorities began to realize he was right. Armbruster received another vindication in December when Ottawa and Manitoba announced the appointment of a co-ordinator to lead efforts to eliminate TB in and around Riding Mountain National Park. The move is seen as a push by federal and provincial authorities to wipe the disease out once and for all, now that they finally have it on the run. “We believe we’re making good progress. We’re not there yet. But we want to continue the appropriate level of surveillance, both in domestic animals and wildlife, to continue the eradication process,”
says Dr. Ian Alexander, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s chief veterinary officer. “If we maintain our surveillance at the appropriate levels, we feel we are on the approach to eventually eradicating TB within that area.” As far as Armbruster is concerned, they couldn’t have picked a better person for the co-ordinator position. He’s Dr. Allan Preston, a veterinarian, cattle producer and retired Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI) assistant deputy minister. “I don’t know another individual who can bring all those aspects to the position,” says Armbruster, who is currently Manitoba Beef Producers president.
“He knows how government works and if somebody can walk into an office, look a minister in the eye and stand his ground, he should know how to do that.” Armbruster says MBP has long called for the appointment of a TB co-ordinator and the organization is pleased that governments have made their request a priority. Preston says his main job will be to co-ordinate the efforts of the many government departments, agencies and organizations involved. “Part of the genesis of this co-ordinated position is to, for lack of a better term, light a fire under everybody, get them to reengage and try to move the
ball into the end zone,” he says. “We’re close to our goal but we’re not quite there and it’s going to take some co-ordinated effort to get us there.” The TB file is a multiheaded monster involving at least four different departments within two levels of government, all with different responsibilities. Parks Canada is responsible for testing wildlife inside the park itself. Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship tests wildlife outside the park within the Riding Mountain Eradication Area (RMEA). CFIA tests domestic cattle, bison and cervids in the RMEA. MAFRI works with local producers on management
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RON FRIESEN
2013-01-26 9:52 AM