Division of Animal Health 



Mabel Owen, Director 



The goal of the Division of Animal Health is the control 

 or eradication of all domestic animal diseases which 

 have either a human health impact or place an undue 

 burden on the producer or consumer. With an office staff 

 of seven, whose primary duty is the support of the field 

 staff and maintenance of disease test and surveillance 

 records, and a field staff of four Veterinary Health Of- 

 ficers, four Animal Health Inspectors and five Poultry and 

 Poultry Products Inspectors the Division monitors the 

 health of well over 120,000 cattle, 50,000 swine, almost 

 35,000 horses, 20,000 sheep and goats and more than two 

 and half million birds, primarily chickens and turkeys. 

 Since this animal population is maintained on more than 

 10,000 individual premises, the inspecting and record 

 keeping presents a monumental task for such a small 

 force. Many records are now computerized, but since 

 most disease situations are best treated on an individual 

 farm basis, the actual work load cannot be minimized by 

 improved technology. Tests vary, as do the availability 

 and use of vaccines and topical treatment. Size of farm, 

 rapidity of disease spread, proximity of neighboring farms 

 with similar animals, availability of medical treatment - all 

 enter into any given disease outbreak and each carries its 

 own monetary impact, on the Division as well as on the 

 farmer-producer. Now that many of the older, and once- 

 feared diseases (Ibberculosis, in particular) are con- 

 sidered to have been eradicated in the area, priorities 

 have turned to others, such as Swine Pseudorabies Virus 

 (PRV) which are relatively new to the state. Interstate 

 and international animal, and human movement has 

 proliferated to an extent where exotic disease pose a 

 constant threat to our native livestock. Avian Influenza 

 in 1986, Swine Pseudorabies in 1987 and various sal- 

 monella serotypes in 1988 have, individually, the capacity 

 of almost wiping out any single species of animal. 



Since the collective value of domestic livestock in 

 Massachusetts now exceeds a half billion dollars, it is 

 encumbent upon the Division to maintain it in good 

 health. The use of land for stock adds heavily to our tax 

 base as well as maintaining a valuable "green belt" around 

 our cities and suburban areas. The production of safe, 

 high-quality, available food is a source of pride to our 

 farmers and life support to our consumers. We have a 

 short growing season in the northeast and we must there- 

 fore make the best possible use of every week of it. The 

 Division of Animal Health maintains an important place 

 in the food chain - cooperating with every segment, from 

 breeders to producer to seller to dealer to processor to 

 consumer. Sections 1 thru 49 of Chapter 129 of the 

 General Law apply, as well as certain other sections and 

 chapters. 



Interstate and international, animals and birds move 

 via Permits and Charts. Included for each is an individual 

 identification (number and letter combination) as well as 

 the negative results for many health tests, all of which are 

 conducted in one or more state or federally-approved 

 laboratories. These records are maintained, in some 

 cases as long as five years, and provide accurate means of 

 trace-back to farms of origin in the event of disease 

 outbreak. Animal commerce is extensive and records 

 must be error-free, both of which require an office staff 

 that is both talented and conscientious. Their basic un- 

 derstanding of disease nomenclature and eradication 

 procedures is extensive. In addition, interstate shipment 

 requirements change almost daily, in answer to sporadic 

 and particular disease situations that come into existence 

 in other states and countries. Telephone inquiries are 

 many and extremely varied, requiring data sources from 

 Universities, other state agencies, federal laboratories or 

 other governmental bodies. 



At the end of fy 1988 four positions remained unfilled, 

 one field Veterinarian, one pouhry/poultry products in- 

 spector and two office staff openings.The fy 1988 budget 

 was $716,143. The Division of Animal Health prepares its 

 own Budget (Account number: 2515-1000) which be- 

 comes a part of Food and Agriculture's departmental 

 budget. Expenses include divisional salaries, accredited 

 Veterinarians in the state, under a fee structure which 

 reimburses them for farm visits, calf-hood vaccinations 

 (Brucellosis only) and tuberculin testing. The remaining 

 costs represent support costs; office expenses and sup- 

 plies, telephone, postage, printing, ear-tags, certain an- 

 tigens and testing materials and auto leasing. 



The Tuberculosis Program 



Massachusetts cattle are tested, on a full-herd basis, 

 once every three years, at state expense. Each test re- 

 quires two Veterinary stops, once to inject and a second, 

 72 hours later, to read. Animal TB -testing is the same as 

 it is for people, essentially an allergic-reaction test. All 

 dairy cows are tested and at least 85% of the beef herds 

 are similarly done. Within the past fy, Connecticut has 

 changed its testing requirements to be in line with all 

 other New England states, a long sought-after change 

 which will result in a substantial saving for the area's milk 

 producers. Since all cattle sent to federal and most state 

 slaughterplants are regularly inspected for TB, the sur- 

 veillance for this important disease is more than ade- 

 quate. Although TXiberculosis in man still can be found in 

 this country, most are inner-city cases with no food-chain 

 derivation. Massachusetts has been "Accredited Free" of 

 Bovine 'I\iberculosis for more than five years. It has been 



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