News of quarantine stuns, angers, scares Mabton-area farmers

By Leah Beth Ward, Benjamin Romano and Amanda Hammon
Yakima Herald-Republic

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Farmers and ranchers in Mabton, southeast of Yakima, were angry and confused yesterday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a dairy cow from a local farm had been infected with "mad-cow" disease.

In a town that's home to many dairies, rumors swirled that the whole area would be quarantined. Nestled eight miles south of Sunnyside off Interstate 82 and south of the Yakima River, Mabton is a quiet place ringed by hop fields, orchards and dairies.

Residents were surprised that nobody knew about the sick cow or the dairy to be quarantined.

"I've talked to everyone and no one knows," said Sid Wavrin, who owns the 900-cow Sunny Dene Dairy. "We're worried about this."

Meanwhile, cattle ranchers up and down the Yakima Valley predicted a potentially devastating effect on the industry's recent recovery. The industry is experiencing all-time high prices, largely at the expense of Canadian producers, who are reeling from the discovery of mad-cow disease in Alberta in May.

Although the Canadian incident has been described as a single, isolated case, there was some suspicion reported at the time, still unconfirmed, that the cow in Alberta may have had links to cattle in the United States. No other information was available last night on that suspicion. One of the biggest questions to be answered is how the Mabton Holstein became infected.

Since 1997, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the sale of feed made of ground bone or other tissue from dead cows or other cud-chewing animals.

"We don't understand how a free-standing case could happen unless the dairy bought the cow as a young heifer from Canada before the FDA ban," said Rod VanDeGraff of VanDeGraff Ranches, a Sunnyside feedlot. The United States banned imported Canadian beef and live cattle May 20, soon after the Alberta case was verified.

More than six Mabton-area dairy owners who were contacted said they did not know whose dairy was being quarantined. Officials did not identify the farm.

Dairy farmers questioned why the USDA would make such a damaging announcement just days before Christmas without the courtesy of notifying them.

"It's been a bad year anyway," said Pearl Geertsma, of Geertsma's Dairy. "The dairy industry is a bummer this year. It's just another bad thing."

Geertsma said milk processor Darigold contacted the farm after the news broke to say it wouldn't take any of its milk. But she said the company called back later and reversed its position.

Darigold spokeswoman Rae Klein said a company representative may have talked with the dairy owners, but there was "no official word" from the company, which will continue to take milk from its six Mabton producers. "It's business as usual," Klein said.

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