Michigan Department of Agriculture officials remind producers that all cattle and bison from the Lower Peninsula moving across bovine Tuberculosis zonal boundaries are required to have a movement certificate before leaving farm premises.

"Michigan must prove to other states that our disease testing, surveillance and regulatory programs are preventing the spread of bovine TB," says Dr. Steven Halstead, state veterinarian. "Certificates for movement are critical to Michigan's goal of achieving TB-free status. To help us achieve it, MDA is partnering with the Michigan State Police to check livestock vehicles, loaded or empty, to ensure haulers have the proper paperwork both at the Mackinac Bridge and along the border between the Modified Accredited Zone and the Modified Accredited Advanced Zone."

Movement regulations include:

* Mandatory electronic ID for all cattle in Michigan leaving farm premises.

* MDA movement certificates for all cattle or bison moving out of either the Modified Accredited or Modified Accredited Advanced Zones.

* Testing and movement requirements remain the same in the MAZ.

* All sexually intact cattle (except those intended for slaughter), six months of age or older, in the MAAZ must have a bovine TB test - with negative results - within 60 days before movement out of the MAAZ. (NOTE: TB testing and movement certificates are not required to move within the MAAZ.)

* TB testing and movement certificates are no longer required for movement of cattle from farms in the Upper Peninsula to any destination within Michigan, but producers must contact other states for their health requirements if moving cattle out of state.

Since 1998, MDA has partnered with the Michigan cattle industry to eradicate bovine TB after the disease was identified in cattle in northern Lower Michigan, an area where free-ranging white-tailed deer are a reservoir and cattle can become infected with TB by eating feed contaminated by deer saliva. The testing regulations and movement controls are designed to prevent cattle infected with bovine TB from moving to another farm.

To obtain movement certificates, cattle producers and haulers should contact MDA at (866) 870-5136. For more information, please visit the Emerging Diseases Web site at www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases or contact MDA's Animal Industry Division at (517) 373-1077.