By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Missouri agriculture officials say there's no Missouri connection to the case of mad cow disease found in Washington Tuesday. Only Texas raises more cattle for human consumption than Missouri, though most cows are moved to other states before they're slaughtered.
Missouri's state veterinarian Taylor Woods say that because the system has long been in place to test for mad cow disease, farmers today really aren't doing anything different, "The only thing that happens is higher awareness, but we already have the plan in place to protect us so we're monitoring the disease. And we know this monitoring works because that's how they found this cow in Washington." Officials also predict a natural drop in prices for cattle, but only a short term dip.