Livestock farmers in 11 Michigan counties will get an additional $500,000 to fight bovine tuberculosis. The money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the third allocation for the northern Michigan counties over the past three months.
So far, $1.5 million has been invested in the effort to wipe out the disease in those counties.Bovine tuberculosis is believed to be spread to livestock by wild deer. The disease causes severe coughing, fatigue, emaciation and debilitation in cattle.
Farmers can get reimbursed from the program for fencing and other practices that keep deer and other wildlife from livestock.
Michigan Milk Producers Association president Ken Nobis says bovine tuberculosis threatens the state's dairy industry, which employs 26,500 people and pumps more than $6 billion into the economy. PD
—AP newswire report
