WELCOME

As this spring issue of Protein Producers goes to print, the COVID-19 outbreak continues to send ripple effects across the United States and around the world. Our society is battling fear and anxiety as we struggle to comprehend the effects of the pandemic on human health and the economy.

This disease outbreak has brought back to the forefront the importance of biosecurity, not only for the animals in our care but also for our workforce, our families, and our communities. We must take seriously the need to wash our hands, disinfect, maintain distance in social interactions, and avoid crowds of people. We encourage each operation to review their policies and put an action plan in place to minimize the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on human health.

Biosecurity programs should emphasize regular cleaning and sanitation of handling, processing, and hospital facilities and equipment with appropriate compounds. Epidemiological principles can guide how we handle cattle flow and how we manage sick animals in feedlots. When we overwhelm the system with high-risk or overall cattle populations, we create problems in processing, in hospitals, and across the operation. Instead, we should strive for a more consistent, manageable cattle flow. When managing sick cattle, we should focus not only on the most severe cases but provide support to all animals to give them the best chance to respond to challenges. We must also remember that infectious disease can move from one population to another. Identifying and isolating infected animals can help improve the health of the entire feedyard population.

As we work through this changing landscape, the PAC team is exploring opportunities to refine methods of data review and analysis, to employ remote medicine, and to develop new training and education tools. We continue thinking about the relationship between disease challenges, co-morbidity, and mortality and about how we can utilize new or existing technologies to refine and evaluate individual case definitions. We hope that you will also be inspired to look for opportunities to improve your day-to-day operations.

In this time of uncertainty, we encourage you to stay positive. Focus on the things in your control to stay healthy while keeping the beef supply moving. Be safe and take care of yourselves, your teams, your families, and your communities.

Dr. Wade Taylor