Coleman announces federal funds to fight bovine TB

Brad Swenson

Bemidji Pioneer

Nearly $3 million in federal funds was made available Wednesday to help northwestern Minnesota farmers and ranchers remove bovine tuberculosis-infected cattle herds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture emergency funding is part of $16.8 million it earmarked Wednesday to depopulate bovine TB-infected beef cattle herds in Minnesota, Michigan and California, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said Wednesday evening.

The amount made available to Minnesota is $2.7 million, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Wednesday evening in a separate statement.

Coleman had asked for the emergency funding in a March 14 letter to Jim Nussle, director of Office of Management and Budget, while Pawlenty after visiting farms in the Roseau area last month, asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to expedite efforts to cull infected cattle and to allocate additional resources.