Montana officials say they hope to learn soon whether or not the federal government will approve the state's cattle brucellosis-free status.

Montana's cattle industry faced trade restrictions last June after an infected cow was diagnosed with the disease near Pray.

Since then, more than 150,000 blood tests on cattle have come back negative and Montana State Veterinarian Marty Zaluski said that those tests should be enough to restore Montana's brucellosis-free status.

"We are looking forward to having our brucellosis-free status back before the end of 2009" Zaluski told us. "We may in fact get our class-free status ahead of time, but are at the mercy of the administrative process of the USDA."

Zaluski added that as a safeguard, testing would continue for 100 to 200 cattle producers who run their animals near elk herds, which are believed to be the source of the infection.