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FRESNO — A Tulare County dairyman has been paid by the federal government to slaughter his herd of 6,400 cows after an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis. 

A reoccurrence of the chronic lung disease at the Friesian Dairy Farm forced Nonning Leyendekker to sacrifice his herd to help protect the state’s hard-won status as being free of bovine TB. 

“If you didn’t depopulate, the whole state would lose its whole TB-free status, and that would have an impact,” said Larry Hawkins, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman. 

But that effort may have been in vain after a cow at a nearby dairy tested positive for the disease last week. Results from the cow at the 2,000-cow dairy will be confirmed by a USDA laboratory. The dairy owner has quarantined the livestock, said Steve Lyle, state Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman. 

A second outbreak would jeopardize the TB-free status and require dairymen to test all cows moving out of state, delaying the process. Losing the status would also make it more difficult for farms in California, the nation’s largest dairy producer, to sell cattle to neighboring states. 

The USDA estimates it could cost Texas’ $7 billion beef and dairy industry about $260 million to test cows before moving out of state during a five-year period. Federal officials estimate it could have an economic impact of $890 million to Texas. 

Texas lost its TB-free status earlier this year after a second herd tested positive for TB. The outbreak was likely caused by cattle from Mexico, said Dan Baca, epidemiologist with the Texas Animal Health Commission. 

Agriculture officials in California don’t know how the outbreak occurred here. 

The bovine TB outbreak was discovered in May at Friesian Dairy after a federal meat inspector found traces of the bacteria at a Hanford meat packing plant. The disease was linked to Leyendekker’s farm and he had to slaughter 90 cows that tested positive. 

A second cow in the herd was discovered to have the disease in August, Lyle said. He did not have information on why the dairyman opted to have his herd slaughtered at this stage. The unaffected meat was taken to a slaughterhouse. 

Hawkins refused to say how much the Friesian Dairy received and Leyendekker could not be reached by phone Friday and did not respond to a faxed request for an interview. 

According to a Tulare County dairy cow retailer, a dairy cow can sell for between $1,600 and $1,900, depending on its age. 

So far, the state has spent about $800,000 for testing for bovine TB, Lyle said. 

The financial impact is expected to be even greater if the another outbreak is confirmed. 

California’s $6 billion milk and beef industry represents more than a fifth of the state’s $27.7 billion agriculture industry. 

Dairy sales in Tulare County were $1.2 billion last year, leading to it becoming the No. 1 agricultural county in the nation. 

California earned it’s TB-free status in 1999 after eight years without any signs of the chronic lung disease in its herds. It takes several years of testing before a state is determined TB-free because it is a slow moving disease, Hawkins said. 

People can contract the disease by working closely with infected cows or by drinking raw milk or eating uncooked meat from infected cows. Nearly all milk sold in California is pasteurized and meat is inspected before being sold.