"IOWA COW WAR " REVISITED

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is almost nonexistent in the United States today due to an aggressive eradication effon begun earlier this century. Today we recognize the public health concerns associated with drinking milk from tubercular cows. However, those concerns were not so apparent at the early point of eradication efforts and our profession had an uphill battle carrying out the testing of cattle within the United States. For many years I have been intrigued by stories I've heard concerning testing of cattle for TB and brucellosis. Growing up on a southeastern Iowa farm, we had vaccinations, castrations and worm-ing duties to do to our cattle every fall. While the veterinarian was performing these chores, tal