Horse and rider jumping over gate

Vesicular Stomatitis Impacts Livestock Exhibitions

Samantha ShieldsAnimal Health, Livestock diseases Leave a Comment

Summer and fall are the times of year when many livestock producers participate in fairs, exhibitions and shows. However, it is not the time to be lax about biosecurity measures given the ongoing risks of commingling animals at these events. Horses and other livestock being hauled to and from exhibitions may contribute to spreading vesicular stomatitis (VS) and other highly …

Poultry production and secure food supply plans

Small Farms, Big Impact: Secure Food Supply Plans

Samantha ShieldsAnimal Health, Livestock diseases, Policy Leave a Comment

Livestock production in the United States varies in size and scope from large-scale commercial operations to small-scale, backyard producers. At the national level, plans have been created to ensure that in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak, unaffected parts of the agriculture industry can avoid interruption. These “food supply plans” may seem unimportant for farms with local markets …

Pigs on a farm

Voluntary Sharing of Disease Data has Value

Dr. Julie SmithAnimal Health, Livestock diseases, Research

Biosecurity and surveillance are complementary. Health surveillance in human, plant, or animal contexts involves collecting, analyzing, and interpreting health-related data. These data then inform what is done in terms of health programs and strategic communication. National surveillance systems often rely on the reporting of diagnoses of certain diseases to regulatory agencies. However, agricultural industries can find value in sharing animal …

Dominoes on a table

Domino Effect of the African Swine Fever Outbreak

Meg StevensAnimal Health, Livestock diseases, Risk Communication

What do you do when an uncontrolled virus is rapidly sweeping the world’s largest pork producer, killing millions of pigs? Furthermore, how do you make people who are removed from the problem care about it? China is currently trying to answer these questions as they experience an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak, a huge threat to national and international biosecurity. …