Sunday, June 21, 2009

NM ranchers worry that sick cows could cross to US

Longtime New Mexico cattle rancher Judy Keeler is keenly aware of how tough it is to raise livestock in the dusty desert near the U.S.-Mexico border. Drought, intense heat, security and illegal immigrants who cut down ranchers fences and drink water meant for livestock are constant concerns. But Keeler and fellow ranchers now have another worry. The border fence, installed by the Department of Homeland Security to keep cars and people from crossing into the United States illegally, isn't so good at blocking cattle in some places. The new fence replaced previous livestock fences at some points, and some stretches are so low that cows can step right over it. And because regulations in Mexico are less strict, Mexican herds are more likely to have bovine tuberculosis and other communicable diseases. "It's kind of a hodgepodge of fencing," said Keeler, president of the Hidalgo County Cattle Grower's Association in Hachita in southwest New Mexico. "The inconsistencies along the border is what I'm trying to get them to correct." Some of the Mexican border states don't have the bovine TB-free disease status enjoyed by most of the U.S. border states, said Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association in Albuquerque, N.M. That could lead to disease spreading to U.S. cattle, threatening the nation's beef industry, although no infections blamed on Mexican cattle have been reported recently...AP

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