Bovine Tuberculosis Testing Requirements in Arkansas: What Cattle Owners Need to Know
September 7, 2026
If you raise, haul, or exhibit cattle in Arkansas, you have almost certainly filled out a certificate of veterinary inspection or asked a veterinarian about a tuberculin test before moving animals across a state line. Bovine tuberculosis testing requirements in Arkansas apply to specific classes of cattle, bison, and other livestock depending on age, sex, purpose, and origin, not to every animal in the state. Understanding which rules apply to your herd can save you a rejected shipment, an unplanned quarantine, or a fine.
This guide walks through how Arkansas classifies its tuberculosis status, who actually has to test, which testing methods regulatory veterinarians use, and what happens if a suspect or positive result turns up in your herd.
What Is Bovine Tuberculosis and Why It Is Regulated in Arkansas
Bovine tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium bovis, and it is a contagious, infectious, communicable disease of animals and humans that is commonly a chronic, debilitating disease but occasionally may assume an acute, rapidly progressive course. It is a widespread zoonosis of global magnitude and affects nearly all species of vertebrates, and disease spreads by direct contact, inhalation of droplets expelled from infected lungs, and ingestion of contaminated feed or milk. Bovine tuberculosis is a rare disease that affects mammals, including cattle, deer, goats, dogs, and humans, and Mycobacterium bovis is the bacteria that causes the disease. This is a different organism than the one behind avian tuberculosis, which affects poultry and other bird species and falls under separate surveillance programs.
Infected cattle are typically asymptomatic, and detection usually occurs during live animal skin testing or, more commonly, at slaughter through the national slaughter surveillance program. That silent progression is exactly why regulators rely on mandatory testing rather than visual inspection alone. Tuberculosis is not treated in livestock, so the entire regulatory system in Arkansas is built around prevention, detection, and containment rather than cure.
The federal framework behind these rules dates back further than most people expect. In 1917, the U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry began the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program, and APHIS and State animal health agencies have since collaborated with U.S. livestock producers to nearly eradicate tuberculosis from the nation’s livestock population. Arkansas administers its share of that program through the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health Division, working alongside USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Pro Tip: If you’re also moving horses or hauling mixed livestock loads, check the EIA/Coggins test requirements in Arkansas at the same time you plan bovine TB paperwork — many haulers need both documents for a single trip.
Arkansas’s TB Classification Status and Risk Zones
Under federal regulations, every state or zone in the country falls into one of several tuberculosis classification tiers, and that tier determines how much testing cattle need before they cross a border. A “zero percent prevalence” designation means no finding of tuberculosis in any cattle, bison, or goat herd in a state or zone, while a “nonaccredited State or zone” is one that does not meet the standards of the Uniform Methods and Rules—Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication or in which tuberculosis is prevalent in 0.5 percent or more of the total number of herds of cattle and bison in the state or zone. Arkansas sits at the top tier. Federal regulations list Arkansas among the accredited-free states, alongside Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, and Hawaii. The Arkansas Department of Agriculture confirms this on its own cattle programs page, listing the state’s tuberculosis status as “Free” alongside its brucellosis class-free status.
That accredited-free label carries real practical weight for producers. Cattle or bison that originate in an accredited-free state or zone may be moved interstate without further restriction under the federal tuberculosis rules, which is why Arkansas-origin cattle generally do not need a TB test just to leave the state for most destinations. Accredited-free status is not permanent by default, though — a state must submit an annual report to APHIS between October 1 and November 30 certifying continued compliance with the Uniform Methods and Rules to qualify for renewal of that status. APHIS also keeps an eye on states with mixed status elsewhere in the country. The APHIS Veterinary Services Cattle Health Center periodically reviews state tuberculosis programs for states maintaining split-state status or operating under a memorandum of understanding, which is one reason Arkansas’s import rules still treat cattle from other states differently depending on that state’s own classification.
Important Note: Arkansas’s accredited-free status applies statewide, so the state currently has no internal TB risk zones for cattle. Import requirements instead depend on the classification and reciprocal agreement status of the state or country where the animal originated.
Who Must Test and Which Animals Are Covered in Arkansas
Not every animal entering or living in Arkansas needs a tuberculosis test. The requirement depends heavily on species, sex, age, and purpose. Federal rules define a “whole herd test” as an official tuberculin test of all cattle and bison in a herd that are 12 months of age or older, and of all cattle and bison less than 12 months of age that were not born into the herd, except those born in and originated from an accredited herd. For entry into Arkansas specifically, several categories carry mandatory testing:
- Sexually intact dairy cattle: All sexually intact dairy cattle six months of age and older entering Arkansas interstate must have a negative tuberculosis test within sixty days prior to entry, and they also need an entry permit and a certificate of veterinary inspection along with official identification. Sexually intact dairy cattle under six months of age may be permitted under a hold order to a designated facility until tested negative at six months, at the owner’s expense.
- Breeding beef cattle: All breeding beef cattle 12 months of age and older entering Arkansas must originate from a tuberculosis-free herd or meet an alternative testing or reciprocal-agreement standard.
- Rodeo bulls: All rodeo bulls twelve months of age and older must have an annual tuberculosis test before entry into Arkansas for a rodeo, and this applies regardless of origin state or area status — even to rodeo bulls that are already based in Arkansas. All bulls must be individually identified with a form of USDA official identification.
- Roping and dogging steers and heifers: These animals need an annual tuberculosis test every twelve months before entry into Arkansas for a rodeo, regardless of origin, though tie-down and roping calves are exempt from this regulation.
- Camelids: Llamas, alpacas, and related species are most often required to have negative brucellosis and tuberculosis tests within thirty days prior to entry, in addition to individual identification and a certificate of veterinary inspection within thirty days of entry.
Cervids — deer, elk, and similar species — follow a different regulatory path entirely. The regulations for the importation of cervidae fall under the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission rather than the Livestock and Poultry Commission, which matters if you also hold a hunting license in Arkansas and move captive deer or elk for stocking purposes.
Foreign-origin animals face the strictest standard of all. Sexually intact cattle and bison from any foreign country with no recognized tuberculosis status comparable to the Uniform Methods and Rules must obtain a permit from the Arkansas Board of Animal Health prior to entry and be quarantined to the approved premises pending two consecutive negative tuberculosis tests.
Common Mistake: Assuming Arkansas-origin status alone exempts an animal from testing. Rodeo bulls and roping stock must test even when they never leave the state, because the rule targets the activity — not just interstate movement.
Approved TB Testing Methods in Arkansas
Arkansas follows the same federally recognized testing protocol used nationwide under the Uniform Methods and Rules. The official skin tests mandated by the UM&R are the intradermal caudal fold test, the comparative cervical test, and the single cervical test, and these tests can only be administered by veterinarians authorized by USDA, with the same veterinarian required to both inject and evaluate the animal. The caudal fold test (CFT) is the front-line screening tool. It is used as a presumptive diagnostic procedure, and animals classified as suspect must be evaluated further by the comparative cervical test, gamma interferon test, or sent directly to slaughter under permit. A positive response to the tuberculin injection is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction that usually begins within 8 to 12 hours and peaks about 72 hours after injection.
| Test Name | Type | Role in Testing Sequence | Who Can Administer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caudal Fold Test (CFT) | Intradermal tuberculin injection | Initial screening/presumptive test | USDA-accredited or regulatory veterinarian |
| Comparative Cervical Test (CCT) | Intradermal, follow-up | Confirms or clears CFT suspects | Federal or state regulatory veterinarian with specialized training |
| Single Cervical Test (SCT) | Intradermal | Alternate confirmatory test per UM&R | USDA-authorized veterinarian |
| Gamma Interferon Assay | Blood-based laboratory test | Supplemental confirmatory test for CFT responders | Approved diagnostic laboratory |
| Dual Path Platform (DPP) Test | Serological strip assay | Used for captive cervids (elk, deer, reindeer) | Authorized testing personnel |
Follow-up testing operates on a strict clock. Only federal or state regulatory veterinarians who have had specialized training may conduct the follow-up testing, and follow-up CCT testing must be performed within 10 days of the initial caudal-fold injection in cattle and bison, or the herd owner must wait 60 days after the injection of the CFT before a follow-up CCT can be applied. For cervid herds, that waiting period stretches to 90 days.
Every test has to be properly documented. Veterinarians complete VS Form 6–22, the Tuberculosis Test Record, identifying each animal by its official identification, which must be recorded in its entirety on the test record at the time of injection and confirmed at the time of observation. That identification requirement is one reason the state’s livestock ear tag requirements in Arkansas matter beyond simple ownership tracking — without a valid official tag, a negative TB test result may not even be accepted for movement paperwork. Veterinarians also carry personal accountability for the result. Veterinarians are legally responsible for properly conducting and evaluating tuberculin test results, so they are expected to perform the test themselves rather than delegate the responsibility to a technician.
Interstate and Intrastate Movement Testing Requirements in Arkansas
Because Arkansas holds accredited-free status, most cattle leaving the state face no special TB testing burden. Cattle coming into Arkansas from lower-status states or countries face a very different picture, and the paperwork stacks up quickly if you skip a step. Permits are required on all cattle entering Arkansas from any state that is not a tuberculosis-free state, unless that state has a reciprocal agreement with Arkansas. A certificate of veterinary inspection has a precise definition under state rule: it is a legible record made on an official form issued from the state of origin by an accredited veterinarian, showing that the animals listed meet the health requirements of the state of destination.
| Cattle Category | Testing Window Before Entry | Additional Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Sexually intact dairy cattle (6+ months) | Negative TB test within 60 days | Entry permit, CVI, official ID |
| Breeding beef cattle (12+ months) | Negative test within 60 days of shipment, or origin from TB-free herd | CVI; permit if from a non-TB-free state |
| Rodeo bulls (12+ months) | Annual TB test, regardless of origin | USDA official ID, entry permit, 30-day CVI for out-of-state bulls |
| Roping/dogging steers and heifers | Annual TB test, regardless of origin | USDA official ID, 30-day CVI, entry permit |
| Foreign-origin intact cattle/bison | Two consecutive negative tests after arrival | Board of Animal Health permit, quarantine to approved premises |
The State Veterinarian has latitude to tighten requirements further for specific origins. The State Veterinarian may designate high incidence areas within certain states that must meet additional import restrictions and retest requirements. That authority is part of why calling ahead before hauling cattle any real distance is worth the ten minutes it takes. Movement from Mexico gets its own layered set of rules. Rodeo stock from Mexico must test negative for tuberculosis within sixty days prior to use as rodeo or roping stock under supervision of a port veterinarian or U.S. accredited veterinarian, then retest every twelve months, and obtain an entry permit — no sexually intact rodeo stock from Mexico is permitted into Arkansas at all. Steers and spayed heifers get more flexibility if their state of origin has documented progress in Mexico’s own eradication program, as long as they move directly from the herd of origin across the border as a single group without commingling and obtain an entry permit before entering Arkansas.
Pro Tip: Before hauling any tested cattle across state lines, confirm your trailer and equipment meet the livestock trailer requirements in Arkansas. A valid TB test does an operation no good if the vehicle itself gets flagged at a checkpoint.
Intrastate movement within Arkansas carries lighter testing obligations overall, but exhibition and rodeo activities are the exception. The rule requiring rodeo bulls and roping stock to test annually applies even when the animals never cross a state line, which is a detail many local exhibitors overlook until an inspector asks for paperwork at the gate.
What Happens When a Suspect or Positive Result Occurs in Arkansas
A positive caudal fold test does not automatically mean an animal has bovine tuberculosis. A positive CFT test is a preliminary result, and the animal requires additional diagnostic testing, since these “false-positive” responses may occur in 1 to 5 percent of tested cattle due to exposure to related bacteria like avian TB or Johne’s disease. Reporting is mandatory and immediate. All accredited veterinarians must immediately report every suspected or diagnosed bovine TB case promptly to both the Assistant District Director and the State Animal Health Official. From there, regulatory veterinarians follow up with secondary tests, and CCT reactors are examined for lesions at postmortem.
A confirmed case triggers a formal legal designation and a full trace-back effort. A herd is designated infected when there is laboratory confirmation of M. bovis or substantial evidence of infection, including bacterial identification, a positive polymerase chain reaction test, or histopathology-compatible lesions in a known TB-exposed bovine. Disclosure of tuberculosis in any herd must be followed by a complete epidemiologic investigation to determine the source of the infection and delimit its possible spread. The path forward for exposed herd-mates depends on what investigators find. If lesions of tuberculosis are found in the exposed animal, or M. bovis is isolated from submitted tissues, the remainder of the herd is depopulated or tested, preferably with the comparative cervical test. In all other cases, the remainder of the herd is tested using the caudal fold test.
Key Insight: A single reactor animal does not automatically condemn an entire herd. Postmortem lesion findings and laboratory confirmation determine whether the response is targeted testing or full depopulation.
Quarantine and Herd Depopulation Rules in Arkansas
Once bovine TB is confirmed in a herd, the animals do not simply get released back to pasture while paperwork catches up. Herds in which M. bovis infection has been confirmed remain under quarantine, if not depopulated, until all requirements of an individual herd plan have been completed. Clearing that quarantine is a long process by design. The herd testing requirement consists of at least two consecutive tests in which all responders to a primary diagnostic test have been examined postmortem with no evidence of M. bovis infection, followed by six consecutive tests in which all responders have been classified negative to a supplemental test or postmortem procedure. Testing intervals for the eight required herd tests run at least 60 days apart for the first four tests, then at least 180 days between the remaining tests.
Even after a herd is depopulated, the property itself stays under restriction. In a newly assembled herd on premises where a tuberculosis-affected herd has been depopulated, two negative annual herd tests must be applied to all cattle, bison, and other livestock brought onto that ground. Exposed feedlot cattle follow a faster but no less strict path: cattle and bison in feedlots known to be exposed to tuberculosis are quarantined and shipped under permit directly to slaughter, and any feedlot pen that held infected or exposed animals must be vacated, cleaned, and disinfected before restocking. Arkansas rule places the financial burden of that quarantine squarely on the owner. Expenses for all costs, including feed, hauling, rent, and death loss, are borne by the owner, shipper, or responsible person involved before animals may proceed. Federal indemnity exists to offset some of that loss, but it has real limits: the value of indemnity is officially 100 percent of the fair market value, up to $3,000 per animal, according to a 2010 USDA APHIS Veterinary Services standard. That figure has not kept pace with modern herd economics — the entire 2021 VS budget for indemnity nationwide was just $1 million, which is why test-and-remove protocols have increasingly replaced whole-herd depopulation as the practical response.
Arkansas also maintains a distinct visual marker for cattle that react to disease testing. The left jaw of cattle is reserved for the use of B and T brands, identifying brucellosis and tuberculosis re-acting cattle, a permanent identifier that follows the animal even after it changes hands.
Penalties for Non-Compliance in Arkansas
Arkansas treats unauthorized movement of diseased or exposed livestock as a straightforward violation of state animal health law, not a gray area. No animal, including poultry or birds of any species, that is affected with or has been recently exposed to any infectious, contagious, or communicable disease, or that originates from a quarantined area or an area of lesser disease status, may be shipped or transported into Arkansas until written permission for entry is first obtained from the State Veterinarian — with the narrow exception of animals approved for direct interstate shipment to slaughter under USDA-APHIS Veterinary Services. Put simply, it is illegal to import any animal that is affected with, or has been recently exposed to, any infectious or communicable disease without that prior written clearance.
Enforcement is not unique to Arkansas; it is baked into the federal program’s design. States seeking or maintaining recognized TB program status must give regulatory officials the legal authority to inspect live animals and records, apply diagnostic tests, inspect carcasses at slaughter, control animal movement into and out of the region, establish quarantines, control the disposition of infected animals, and enforce TB program requirements while penalizing noncompliance. This is one reason a state can lose its accredited-free status if enforcement lapses — the classification depends on the state proving it actually uses that authority. State-level consequences do vary across the country, which is worth knowing if you also operate herds outside Arkansas. Individual states vary in their legislation and enforcement, and this diversity shows up in the different levels of supplementary indemnity, if any, that states provide to owners of depopulated herds. Arkansas’s approach — owner-borne quarantine costs, mandatory permits, and permanent B/T branding for reactors — sits toward the stricter end of that spectrum.
Important Note: This article summarizes Arkansas and federal bovine TB regulations for general informational purposes and is not a substitute for direct guidance from the Arkansas State Veterinarian’s office or your accredited veterinarian. Rules and reciprocal agreements can change; always confirm current requirements before moving cattle.
Bovine tuberculosis testing requirements in Arkansas trace back to a single goal: protecting the state’s accredited-free status so producers can move cattle without the testing burden that lower-status states carry. Whether you’re hauling dairy heifers, entering roping stock at a weekend rodeo, or importing breeding cattle from another state, the paperwork trail — permit, certificate of veterinary inspection, and the right test within the right window — is what keeps your herd, and the state’s status, in good standing. When in doubt about a specific shipment, a call to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health Division before loading the trailer costs far less than a quarantine after the fact.