The state of Nebraska announced a quarantine Thursday of about 30 cattle herds in Rock, Holt, Loup, Boyd and Brown counties and a plan to test about 15,000 animals for bovine tuberculosis.

Agriculture Director Greg Ibach and State Veterinarian Dennis Hughes announced the quarantine and testing plan after an update session with about 500 producers and others from the state's multibillon-dollar beef sector at the Rock County fairgrounds.

The expanded quarantine and the testing are the latest developments following confirmation of at least two infected animals from a Rock County ranch earlier this month - the first cases of bovine TB in Nebraska in 17 years.

In a telephone interview, Ibach made it clear the state and the U.S. Department of Agriculture would respond promptly to the disease concern on the eastern edge of the Nebraska Sandhills, one of the nation's leading cow-calf settings.

"First of all, the USDA protocol or expectation of the state is that we will have our testing and epidemiological investigation completed by Nov. 30.

"With that said, we will start with a team Monday. And, on Tuesday, we will have two teams up and running" to carry forward with testing, Ibach said.

Bovine tuberculosis is a concern both because of the remote risk of it being transmitted to humans through unpasteurized milk and undercooked meat, and because an outbreak can lead to an expensive testing regimen for producers and restrictions on shipping untested cattle out of the state.

Beef carcasses are routinely tested as a safety step at slaughter plants.

The early focus of efforts to contain the disease has been on tracing the movement of cattle in and out of the affected area and locating cattle that may have been pastured next to them in the past two years.

Ibach called that a critical step in developing a list of 31 herds and 15,000 animals "because those are the herds that have had fenceline contact and the opportunity for nose-to-nose contact with the first herd that had two animals test positive for tuberculosis."

The re-emergence of bovine tuberculosis in Nebraska is happening at a time when at least five other states - California, Texas, Minnesota, New Mexico and Michigan - are battling the same problem.

Ibach said the disease moves slow in individual animals, which often show no outward signs of sickness.

"It's one of the harder diseases, period, in the United States to manage and control and contain, and this is a significant undertaking for the department."

At the same time, "both the department and the governor are committed to doing all necessary steps to minimize the impact on the beef industry, agriculture and the state in general."

With about $6.5 billion in cattle sales each year, according to the Nebraska Beef Council, the Nebraska beef cattle industry is the state's single largest industry.

Ibach did not rule out an increase in the number of quarantined herds. "We think we have a good handle, though, on the (producers) that we need to be talking with."

Situations of this kind often require that at least some portion of herds that test positive be sent to slaughter. The federal government typically compensates cattle owners.

Ibach was not willing to speculate on the eventual financial cost of the containment effort on his department's budget or in overall state and federal tax dollars.

"We're already working with the governor and his office, with federal agencies, and with our congressional delegation to identify the resources necessary to address tuberculosis."

Producers with confirmed cases can bypass the slaughter-indemnification procedure, but the other option is to have their herds test clean for the disease in eight consecutive tests over four years.

"We anticipate that most producers will want to opt for indemnification and to move ahead, rather than subject animals to the testing protocol," Ibach said.

As is so often the case with news of livestock diseases, state agricultural officials try to strike the right balance in keeping producers and the public informed without overstating the seriousness of the situation.

Seward veterinarian Ron Wallman, who recently stepped down as president of the state's veterinary medical association, is among private practitioners monitoring developments.

"I anticipate, at this point, what this is going to mean is obviously increased levels of testing," Wallman said earlier Thursday.

"That decision will be based on tracebacks, or investigation of the herd where the outbreak was, testing of surrounding herds, and the whole question of, 'Is this an isolated incident or has it spread further?'"

As one possible indication of anxious attitudes in Rock County, Donnie Painter of the Bassett Livestock Auction declined to gauge the local mood and deferred questions to veterinary professionals.

"We're kind of staying away from that," Painter said, because "it's affecting too many of our clientele. We want to be very careful."

Joe Andrews, chairman of the Rock County fair board and a prominent part of Rock County's beef legacy, said he can tell that area producers are on edge. "They're nervous. I hear so many stories and stuff - gossip stuff."

But they are also working with veterinary officials "very diligently," Andrews said. "There's no problem that way."

Wallman described it as "very difficult when you've got to tell somebody they've got to liquidate their herd, particularly when it's something like this that happened through no fault of their own."

From his perspective, "it's important to emphasize that nothing has changed as far as the systems that are in place to protect human health. And they're very solid and very strong. There is not any danger from consuming milk or beef."

Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or ahovey@journalstar.com.