MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The federal government has downgraded the Minnesota's status for bovine tuberculosis. That means the state's livestock producers will have to spend more time and money to ship their cattle and bison out of state.

The new restrictions take effect Wednesday.

They won't affect animals going to slaughter or coming from herds certified as TB-free. But other animals being shipped out of state -- primarily feeder cattle, breeding stock and replacement dairy cows -- will have to be tested first.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says that Minnesota cattle, bison and goats brought into Wisconsin will need to meet certain restrictions unless they go directly to slaughter or an approved feedlot.

They'll have to have a import permit from the Wisconsin ag department. They'll also have to have negative TB test results from a "whole-herd test" during the last 12 months. Negative tests for individual animals will have to have been done during the last 60 days if the whole-herd test was done before that time, or if the animal was not part of the herd at the time of the test.

Those animals must also be quarantined when they arrive in Wisconsin, and retested 60 to 90 days after import.

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