The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) announced that an animal from a Gallatin County ranch within Montana’s Designated Surveillance Area (DSA) was confirmed infected with brucellosis.
According to the DOL, the animal tested negative in 2021 but tested as a “reactor” during a voluntary herd test in January. The DOL quarantined the herd when the reactor was discovered and initiated an epidemiological investigation. Tissues were collected from the animal postmortem by pathologists from the Montana Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, IA, where the infection was confirmed by culture.
State Veterinarian Marty Zaluski praised Montana DSA producers for their high compliance rate with brucellosis regulations.
This is the 12th brucellosis-affected herd found since the creation of the DSA in 2010. The DOL previously reported an affected herd in Madison County in January.
