Ranchers say they are being hit hard by the quarantine of thousands of animals while they wait to hear if they will have to slaughter them due to Bovine TB.

22,000 head of cattle are under quarantine with 10,000 due to be slaughtered so far after a case of the disease was found in a cow from eastern Alberta.

The Canada Food Inspection Agency is paying ranchers up to $4,500 for each commercial animal and up to $10,000 for registered cattle, but only for animals killed.

But ranchers still must pay to feed thousands of cattle that they can’t sell.

“It's tough, your world in an instant is turned upside down and your future is unknown, your livelihood is gone and your cattle are gone,” said Brad Osanchuk, Beef Producer.

“They don’t have facilities to hold the calves, some of the don’t have enough water, they don’t have feed, they are short of money, so this week, there is a meeting in Brooks where they will be announcing details of the AgriRecovery compensation and I hope money will start to get into the hands of producers quickly,” said Rich Smith, Alberta Beef Producers.

Federal and provincial governments are set to introduce an AgriRecovery program on Wednesday that will offer quarantined ranches up to a $400,000 advance with $100,000 of it offered interest free.

Alberta Beef is holding its annual general meeting in Calgary this week with many people wondering where the disease originated from.

“This is a strain of TB that we've never had in Canada before, it's been identified in Mexico and in the United States, we don't know how it's transmitted and part of the investigation is to try and find the source,” said Smith.

The outbreak hasn’t affected trade thanks to the quick containment of the area. Canada is even holding on to its official Bovine TB-free status, though that could change if even one more case of the disease is discovered within the next four years.

Alberta Beef Producers are worried that as the outbreak continues, prejudice could come out against Alberta beef.

“The people in the United States who are protectionist will have listened to what the President-elect said during the campaign and he spoke out quite strongly against trade and I think they may believe they have an ally in that President,” said Smith.

In the meantime, the meeting to roll out details of the new AgriRecovery program will be held in Brooks on Wednesday evening.