GRANDVILLE, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – The first of two informational meetings to discuss a recent outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in West Michigan is tonight.
State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development staffers will be on hand at Grandville Middle School’s auditorium at 7 PM tonight to go over what happened last month when a test of a herd of roping cattle at an undisclosed Ottawa County farm turned up positive in two cases for the disease that is more prevalent in northeast Lower Michigan, where cattle have come in contact with infected wild deer over a number of years. A three-mile surveillance area was established once the test results came back.
Two additional infections of bovine TB were reported in Kalamazoo County less than a week after the Ottawa County case came to light, and since the affected Ottawa County cattle came from the Kalamazoo County location, state analysts believe that the two situations are linked. A similar information forum is tomorrow evening at 7 PM at the Kellogg Biological Station in Hickory Corners.