ADAPTING YOUR BIOSECURITY PLAN TO YOUR CATTLE OPERATION

By Julia Herman, DVM, MS, DACVPM, Beef Cattle Specialist Veterinarian, NCBA, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff

Biosecurity in the cattle industry has experienced emerging challenges in recent months. Influenza A (H5N1) virus has been found in dairy herds in at least twelve states and has changed animal movement across the country. Another threat is the Asian Longhorned Tick, which has expanded its reach to beef cattle in Illinois. With all of these risks, cattle producers are challenged along with other livestock industries to improve biosecurity practices to protect their animals and workers.

As discussed in Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program, funded by the Beef Checkoff, the goal of biosecurity is to protect animals from disease by minimizing the movement of biological organisms such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites within or onto an operation. This in turn promotes animal health and minimizes the time and labor resources required to treat a sick animal. In animal production, producers and veterinarians also should understand the importance of minimizing zoonotic disease transmission, which spreads from animals to people (or vice versa).

Daily biosecurity practices include some of the most important steps to protecting the cattle herd. BQA has partnered with the USDA funded Secure Beef Supply (SBS) Plan to develop resources for cattle producers on how to properly prepare for daily cattle diseases. The BQA Daily Biosecurity Plan for Disease Prevention template offers an introductory, stepwise biosecurity plan for identifying biosecurity risks on cattle operations. Producers can customize plans to their own operation, allowing flexibility for producers and their resource team to evaluate what management practices work best for their situation. Working with the herd veterinarian provides unique opportunities for evaluating current practices and collaborating on steps for improvement.

This plan is a precursor to the Secure Beef Supply (SBS) Plan, an enhanced biosecurity plan which will be necessary during a potential foreign animal disease outbreak such as with foot and mouth disease (FMD). The SBS plan and training materials have more amplified biosecurity steps protecting against FMD, which is the most contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hooved animals (such as cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and wildlife). While FMD is not a public health risk, its effects on our economy, trade, and way of life would be tremendous if this disease were to enter the U.S. or North America. On the SBS site, producers can learn more about FMD, what it looks like in affected animals, and find tools and design concepts to incorporate into their facilities and their business plans.

Content sections for both the daily and enhanced biosecurity plans are the same for consistency between plans, allowing producers and veterinarians to build up to more stringent biosecurity steps that will be necessary for the SBS plan. As seen in Table 1, biosecurity plans are comprehensive and cover many aspects of the cattle operation. Working with your herd veterinarian to evaluate each section and discuss options should be at least an annual meeting. Some examples include:

• Training: Training for onboarding purposes or for continuing education is important to animal and human health and safety. Each operation is responsible for developing customized trainings and documenting training dates for each employee. At a minimum, understanding how biosecurity is implemented on the operation, reviewing the plan, and walking through the labeled premises map should be completed with each employee. Additional training for the operation may be required. They should be offered in the employee’s preferred language.

• Animal movement: As seen with guidance on moving dairy cattle from H5N1 diagnosed herds, animal movement records are incredibly important to trace where exposed or sick animals have traveled. Individual animal identification plays a key role in recording animal health and production parameters, in addition to disease outbreak investigation. Incoming breeding animals should be quarantined prior to entering the herd to prevent disease transmission. If unable to quarantine, such as in a feedlot, stocker, or calf raiser facility, daily observation of animals should be conducted so clinical signs of illness can be quickly identified and a veterinarian called to check. In the event of a disease outbreak and animal movement is limited, contingency plans for feed, water, and space should be in place ahead of the interrupted movement.

• Rodent control, wildlife, and other animal control: Many non-resident animals can act as a fomite and carry different diseases onto the operation. Plans for discouraging rodent or other animal movement should be discussed. Note that lethal mitigation may not be allowed for certain wildlife species, including migratory birds and endangered species, so caution should be used in choosing control measures. Protecting feed and water sources from wildlife is critical to preventing disease transmission. Discouraging nesting sites near feed and water sources is one technique. Dogs, cats, and other pets can also be fomites and should not be allowed to roam between operations.

• Labeled premises map: This aerial map of the operation, including all animal areas (dry lots, pastures, buildings, feed, manure storage, carcass disposal/pick-up) is important for training and emergency situations. A premises identification number (PIN) is a nationally unique alphanumeric code assigned by USDA to a physical location where livestock are raised, fed, or held. Producers may have a PIN already if they test for regulatory diseases like tuberculosis or brucellosis. The PIN and related info allows animal health officials to locate livestock quickly and precisely in high-risk areas due to a disaster or a contagious animal disease, like FMD. This map can also be used in the operation’s emergency action plan. A video and handouts on building a premises map or learning more about getting a PIN are available at www.bqa.org/ resources/biosecurity-resources.

Biosecurity is one thing that the producer has the most control over. Biosecurity can be adapted based on risk assessments for an operation. These aspects overlap with many aspects of the herd health plan, including nutrition, minimizing stress with good stockmanship, and vaccination programs. These topics are instrumental in employee education for guidelines to focus on every day. Identifying abnormal illness or clinical signs in cattle is important and notifying a veterinarian early in the process helps with outbreaks and treatment. All producers will start their biosecurity plans at different levels, so emphasizing foundational biosecurity principles will be advantageous during development of the plan.

Cattle producers in all sectors should strive for continuous improvement in biosecurity planning including record keeping and annual reassessment of their practices. For more information, check your BQA certification status, and downloadable preparation documents, visit the BQA website at www.bqa.org or the Secure Beef Supply Plan website at securebeef.org. The greatest contribution of the beef (and livestock) industry to disease preparedness will include proactive preparation through biosecurity planning. Collaboration among all levels of the supply chain will be vital as we continue to protect the integrity of our cattle and livestock industries.