FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Officials have lifted quarantines on two central California dairies linked to a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), after investigators found the illness didn’t come from cattle feed.

Tests performed by the World Organization for Animal Health confirmed what U.S. labs had found: The diseased cow had a form of the illness involving a spontaneous mutation of a protein gene that hasn’t caused illness in humans.

The cases of “mad cow” reported across Great Britain in the 1990s were caused by cattle being fed protein supplements made from the spinal columns and brains of diseased cows. That practice has since been banned.

The case in Tulare County was discovered through random testing. Officials have not released the names of the affected dairies, which had been shuttered since April 24.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack went to Virginia May 23 to announce a new micro-loan program to help small farmers, and he found a fan in fifth-generation grower Leroy Hardy.

The program, expected to be rolled out this summer, will provide borrowing of less than $35,000 for beginning farmers, disabled veterans and what federal agricultural officials call “socially disadvantaged” growers – black farmers, Hispanics and Native Americans.

Hardy, who operates the Hardy Family Farm in Southampton County, was among a couple dozen farmers who met privately with Vilsack at the Virginia Farm Bureau in suburban Richmond. He said loans are critical for small-scale farmers, who often have to work through a mountain of paperwork before a loan is approved. The micro-loan program announced by Vilsack cuts the paperwork by half.

“In a matter of months, things can change dramatically,” said Hardy, who is African-American and among the targets of the loans. “We don’t need a lot but when we need, we need it.”

Hardy grows flowers, melons, peppers and okra on his 70 acres. A loan, he said, “could help us purchase things, just to keep us afloat from season to season.”

For new farmers, commercial credit is often out of reach. The idea behind the micro-loans, Vilsack said, is to open the door for smaller-scale growers and others interested in agriculture at a time when the American farmer is getting grayer.

“We see this as an entryway for innovation and entrepreneurship in rural America to complement production agriculture and to allow an easier way for young people to get into this business,” Vilsack said. “This is going to allow us to increase the number of people in farming, which is very important, given the age of the average farmer in Virginia and the country – close to 60 years of age.”

The micro-loan program is part of the USDA’s efforts to expand farming opportunities to all. In the past three years, for example, the department has provided more than 100,000 loans to farmers totaling $14.6 billion. More than half of those loans went to black, Hispanic and Native American farmers.

Vilsack said more disabled veterans are turning to farming when they return to civilian life, and these loans will help them get started. “We have found there is a therapeutic impact, if you will, in connecting veterans with agricultural opportunities,” he said.

The USDA loans can be used to purchase land, livestock, equipment, feed, seed and supplies. They also can also be used to make farm improvements, such as the construction of new farm buildings. The micro-loan program will tap the USDA’s existing $1 billion direct loan pool and will probably benefit 5,000 farmers nationally.

Grain growers John Shepherd of Blackstone and Glenn Dye of Stafford County, both Virginia Tech graduates, said their agribusinesses have grown beyond micro-loans but they said they banked heavily on Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans when they started.

“I think without the FSA loan program, I don’t think Glenn or I would have started farming,” Shepherd said.

Dyer said of the micro-loans, “I think it’s a great idea. Does it apply to everybody? No.”

ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A sheriff says repeated escapes by horses have prompted fencing upgrades at the Ohio farm where dozens of exotic animals were released by their suicidal owner and later killed by authorities last fall.

Two surviving leopards, two primates and a bear were returned to the owner’s widow and the farm near Zanesville this month. That left some people concerned because nothing in Ohio law allows state officials to check on the animals’ welfare or require improvements to the conditions in which they’re kept.

Two weeks ago, horses somehow escaped the farm three days in a row. Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz told WBNS-TV farmhands have installed new barbed wire and an electrical line on the fence to help prevent such escapes.

ONEIDA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A plan from a Texas-based wind farm company that’s currently under consideration would build 63 wind turbines in Michigan.

The Lansing State Journal reported the planning commission in Eaton County’s Oneida Township has scheduled a hearing for next month related to the project west of Lansing. Houston-based Horizon Wind Energy LLC has proposed the turbines. As planned, they would be about 500 feet tall from the tips of their blades to the ground.

Final decisions on the plan likely will follow wind testing in the area, which could take a year.