INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana State Board of Animal Health said it has quarantined several cattle herds that might have been exposed to bovine tuberculosis (TB).

The agency said it was notified by the South Dakota state veterinarian last week that seven head of beef cattle recently shipped to Indiana may have been exposed to the chronic bacterial disease. The agency said it has identified all of the herds to which the South Dakota cattle were shipped.

None of the imported cattle had tested positive for the disease by Nov. 23, and the agency said it’s working to complete testing as soon as possible. Until test results are available, the cattle are considered exposed to TB.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (AP) — Environmental activists say Indiana’s first new restrictions in years on factory-style livestock farms that generate large amounts of manure fall short of what’s needed to protect the state’s waters and rural residents.

The new regulations for Indiana’s nearly 2,000 largest livestock farms were approved this month by a state panel. They take effect next July for farms that raise hundreds or thousands of hogs, chickens, turkeys and other animals.

State officials contend the updated rules will provide significant new protections for ground and surface waters. But activists say the revised rules make only a handful of improvements and fail to adequately protect water quality, public health and communities near big farms.

Tim Maloney of the Hoosier Environmental Council said regulators spurned most of activists’ suggestions for beefing up the rules.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has penalized two north-central Iowa companies for failing to submit manure management plans to Iowa regulators.

A news release from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said Kossuth County District Court Judge Nancy Whittenburg on Nov. 23 ordered a total penalty of $40,000 be assessed against General Development, based in Algona, and Kollasch Land and Livestock, Inc., based in Whittemore, and the two companies’ principal owners, brothers Luke and Charles Kollasch.

The penalty resolves a lawsuit filed by the state. The two companies operate hog confinement operations in Kossuth and Palo Alto counties. The state says the defendants have now completed the required manure management plans.

OSAGE, Iowa (AP) — A Minnesota man has been charged in the thefts of hundreds of hogs in Iowa and Minnesota.

The Globe Gazette in Mason City reported that 35-year-old Greg Swenson of Rose Creek, Minn., was arrested the morning of Nov. 23 and charged with ongoing criminal conduct, first-degree theft, offenses related to animal production and possession of burglary tools.

He is the second person arrested with the thefts from hog confinements that occurred between November 2010 and September. Forty-four-year-old John Arndt, of Hayfield, Minn., was arrested on the same charges last month.

Swenson was being held in the Olmstead County, Minn., jail awaiting extradition to Mitchell County, Iowa. His attorney, Roger Sutton, said he hasn’t seen any evidence to support the charges against Swenson.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jack Daniel’s officials are toasting the defeat of a proposal to tax whiskey at its celebrated Tennessee distillery.

The Moore County Council in Lynchburg, Tenn., voted 10-5 Nov. 21 to kill a proposal that could have taxed Jack Daniel’s up to $5 million annually, with all the revenue going to local coffers.

The vote reversed an earlier one that had asked the Tennessee legislature to authorize a local referendum on the per-barrel tax proposal.

The 145-year-old distillery and its employees, along with Lynchburg, have been the focus of Jack Daniel’s folksy advertising for years. Bottles of the charcoal mellowed sippin’ whiskey list Lynchburg’s population as 361, but the town and county really have about 6,400 people.

MADISONVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A vegetable garden tended by inmates at the Hopkins County Jail helped trim the food budget at the facility by $15,000 this year.

The Madisonville-Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce cited the savings as one of several reasons the jail received special recognition at the annual Farm-City Breakfast.

Hopkins County Jailer Joe Blue told The Messenger of Madisonville he started the program in 2006 with little planning. He said 2011 was a very good year.

The jail started a master gardener training program this year, graduating 10 inmates. Blue said the program helps give different kinds of job skills to inmates, many who are from the cities of Louisville or Lexington and don’t know anything about agriculture.

One local business donates fertilizer for the garden, and another provides seeds at reduced prices.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee wildlife officials had hoped allowing year-round limitless hunting of wild hogs would eradicate the aggressive pigs that can tear up farmland and forests, but they spread even faster and turned up in counties where they hadn’t been seen before.

So, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency changed tactics and banned hunting of the wild hogs for the general public this year.

Wild hog hunting is still allowed for landowners and some deer and bear hunters, but the agency said trapping has stopped most of the damage in some counties.

But The Tennessean reports wild hog hunters are pushing back against the change, saying the state is protecting the hogs.