By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The government is now tracing the history of an Alabama cow that has become the nation's third case of mad cow disease. The Agriculture Department confirmed the infection yesterday. The cow is now dead, but officials were quick to note the animal never entered the human food chain or the animal feed chain. Federal and state investigators are now trying to figure out where the cow was born and raised and if it had any offspring. Alabama authorities also say the farm where the cow was being kept is now under an informal quarantine. But, they won't say where the farm is located. Agriculture officials will say the cow had spent less than a year there. State agriculture commissioner Ron Sparks says no other animals there will be tested because mad cow disease is not contagious.