63 cows confirmed sold by farm at center of mad cow case.

SAPPORO, Sept. 18 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH NEW FIGURES PROVIDED BY HOKKAIDO GOV'T)

Sixty-three cows have so far been confirmed sold within and outside of Hokkaido since April 1996 from a farm in the town of Saroma, the birthplace of a cow suspected of having mad cow disease, the Hokkaido prefectural government said Tuesday.

Of the 72 cows sold, 35 were sold within Hokkaido, 28 were shipped outside and nine are still under investigation to determine their whereabouts, the local government said.

Besides the one cow suspected of having the disease, no irregularities have been found in the herd, Hokkaido officials said.

Of the 35 cows sold within Hokkaido, nine are still alive, two died after giving birth, and 24 were deemed normal and slaughtered for meat.

The Hokkaido government did not disclose where the other cows were shipped, but 12 prefectures have so far confirmed they were brought into their jurisdictions.

The prefectures are Yamagata, Tochigi, Saitama, Chiba, Nagano, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie, Hyogo, Hiroshima, Miyazaki and Kagoshima.

On Sept. 10, the first suspected case of mad cow disease in Japan was announced involving a Holstein dairy cow from a farm in Shiroi, Chiba Prefecture.

Three towns in Chiba prefecture said Tuesday they have instructed their public schools to refrain from using beef in school lunches until its safety is confirmed.

Similar measures have already been taken by Chiba and Ichihara cities in the prefecture.