A cattle herd in Park County has tested positive for the disease brucellosis.
The Wyoming Livestock Board says the herd is quarantining and they don’t anticipate impacts to other herds.
Brucellosis can cause cattle to abort their young. Elk are known to transmit the disease. Park County is in a part of the state that’s regularly surveilled for the disease because of the presence of wildlife carrying it.
Fifth generation rancher Dustin Taylor’s cow-calf operation is southwest of Meeteetse and not tied to the recent detection. He said last November, one of his cows got the disease.
“The earliest we can be completely off of quarantine would be in the spring of ‘25,” he said.
Taylor said not being able to feed his cows at feedlots where he typically would has already cost him $30,000 in added feed costs, which includes hay.
“We haven't been able to really change anything in our operation because we don't know where we got it. They can't pinpoint any specific elk herd that had it,” he said.
The Livestock Board will hold two informational meetings on brucellosis at the Park County Library at 6 p.m. on Sept. 24, and at the Afton Civic Center at 6 p.m. on Oct. 3. The meetings will also be streamed virtually on Zoom.
