SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Government officials urged ranchers in southern Brazil on Tuesday to slaughter thousands of cattle after 11 cases of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease were discovered over the weekend. Officials were already planning to vaccinate millions of cattle in the region, near the border with Uruguay and Argentina. Now, they're asking farms in a two-mile radius of the ranch where the disease was discovered to kill and incinerate their animals. "We are trying to convince ranchers in and around the affected area to slaughter their herds," an Agriculture Ministry official said on condition of anonymity. He said thousands of head of cattle could be slaughtered, but did not have an exact number. If the farmers refuse the slaughter proposal, then their animals would be included among those to be vaccinated, the official said.
