Beef Cows

• Establish and implement an efficient and effective herd health plan with input from your veterinarian.

• • Include written Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for health procedures.
  • Include written SOP for treating sick animals.

• Observe all animals at least once daily for signs of disease including lameness, loss of appetite, salivation, lethargy, or sudden death.
• Individual animals or the entire herd should be examined carefully by a veterinarian if signs of disease are noted.

• • It is especially important that a postmortem examination be performed if unexplained livestock deaths occur.
  • Biological specimens should be submitted to a diagnostic laboratory if the cause of disease problems is not obvious.

• Special attention should be paid to equipment such as livestock trucks and trailers, manure loaders and spreaders, tractors, portable livestock chutes, and other fomites that could easily spread disease from one site to another.
• Clean equipment thoroughly after each load.
• Locate delivery/load out facilities at perimeter of property.
• Livestock exhibitions, other than terminal shows, should be  avoided if possible.

General Recommendations

• Maintain a closed herd if possible (i.e. do not bring in new additions to herd). Maintain excellent records for all animals and keep the records up to date. Include the following information:

• • Individual identification
  • Origin (natural addition or purchased)
  • Vaccinations
  • Test history
  • Clinical signs, treatments, cause of death or cull, etc.

• Identify animals individually in accordance with the traceability standards.
• Separate the herd into similar groups, e.g. cows with young calves, heifers, and pregnant cows.
• For pastured animals, disperse hay feeding areas to prevent congregation in one area or prepare a designated feeding area with geotextile fabric and gravel.
• Avoid housing or mixing cattle with sheep, particularly lambs to prevent exposure to malignant catarrhal fever.
• Have a valid veterinary/client/patient relationship, and include your veterinarian in herd health decisions.
• Develop a vaccination protocol with help from your veterinarian to improve herd level immunity.

• • Consider vaccinations for: respiratory agents such as Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR), Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV), Parainfluenza Virus type 3 (PI3), Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD type 1 & 2)], clostridium and leptospirosis.
  • Administer booster vaccination when recommended and allow four weeks for immunity to develop for most vaccines. Understand vaccination may only reduce clinical signs in animals and not prevent infection.
  • Handle Modified Live Virus vaccines with care - keep cool and out of sunlight. Do not use disinfectants (i.e.  alcohol) in syringes or needles. Use transfer needle to mix the vaccine before using.

Resident Animals

Calves

• Diarrhea is the most common cause of death of neonatal calves.
• Maintain dry feeding areas for late pregnant cows to avoid dirty teats.
• Keep the calving area as dry and clean as possible with minimal stocking density.
• Minimize calf exposure to dirty environment (mud and manure).
• Ensure the calf nurses in the first few hours after birth.
• Provide colostrum to calves if they do not suckle within the first hour after calving.
• Keep calves on an excellent plane of nutrition - may need to creep feed as calves get older.
• Schedule to vaccinate calves at:

• • 2 months of age (clostridium vaccine).
  • Prior to weaning or at weaning (clostridium and respiratory agents vaccines).

• Records should be maintained to include birth date, dam, sire, diagnoses, treatments, procedures, etc.
• Do not allow purchased/off-farm foster calves to be in same area as herd; keep separated with dam.

Weaned Calves

• Respiratory illness is the most common cause of death in weaned calves. Coccidiosis is also a common disease in this age group.
• Provide a good weaning environment (not muddy), with a good source of clean water, and feed that is easy to find.

• • Consider fenceline weaning when the cows are moved to the adjacent pasture with a good fence between cows and weaned calves. This procedure creates less stress at weaning in the calves, and calves that are stressed less tend to have fewer respiratory problems.
  • Pasture weaning has advantages over dry lot weaning.

• Provide a good mineral supplement (salt, macro, and trace minerals).
• Provide coccidiostats in feed or mineral supplement.

Heifers

• Provide a good mineral supplement (salt plus other important macro and trace minerals).
• Provide coccidiostats in feed or mineral supplement.
• Maintain heifers in a body condition score (BCS) of approximately 5/9 and at least 65 percent of expected mature body weight before breeding.
• Vaccinate one month before breeding.

• • Consider: Vibrio (Campylobacter fetus), Leptospirosis, and the respiratory disease complex which includes BRSV, BYD, IBR and PB; modified-live vaccine is preferred.

• Consider estrus synchronization and/or artificial insemination (AI) to reduce venereal disease transfer and to improve genetics and the end product.
• Breed heifers 30 days before the cow herd; limit breeding to 45 to 60 days.
• Keep pregnant heifers away from outside (neighboring) cattle, since heifers are the most susceptible to disease during pregnancy.

Cows

• Limit bull breeding to 60 to 90 days with cow herd.
• Provide a good mineral supplement (salt plus other important macro and trace minerals).
• Establish a designated area where animals being treated or are sick may be kept under a close observation. Their feed and water should not be shared with the rest of the herd.
• Record all treatments and comply with all meat withdrawal periods.
• Have a logical feeding order: feed healthy animals first, then the sick and treated animals las.t
• Cull chronically diseased animals: Johne's disease, mastitis, lameness (Mycoplasma), etc.
• Identify animals that abort.

• • Send the fetus and placenta to a diagnostic laboratory and contact your veterinarian.

Pregnant Cows

• Provide pregnant cows with a dry and comfortable environment and good nutrition.
• Use scour vaccines according to label to prevent the major contributors to calf diarrhea on your farm.

Bulls

• Use artificial insemination when possible.
• Routinely perform breeding soundness exams on bulls, ideally one to two months before breeding is to begin.
• Vaccinate and deworm bulls as recommended by your veterinarian. Consider the use of:

• • Modified live BYD vaccine at least one month before breeding begins.
  • Vibrio (Campylobacter) vaccine one month before breeding.

• Avoid purchasing older bulls that have been used for breeding, because of disease carrier state Tritrichomonas (Trichomonas) foetus.

New Animals

• Maintain a closed herd and grow herd size internally or minimize the frequency and number of new additions to your herd.
• Designate isolation or quarantine facilities for all new animals (refer to Facilities section).
• Isolate new animals or returning animals for a minimum of three weeks before introducing them into the resident herd.
• Purchase animals from a single source with known and trusted herd health programs:

• • Ask for a written account of the seller's herd health information and review this with your veterinarian before animals arrive on farm, such as complete vaccination, Johne's disease status, BYD status, Tuberculosis (TB) test negative, etc.
  • Purchasing animals from sale yards or auction markets presents a higher risk of bringing disease onto your farm since complete history of disease exposure may not exist.

• Observe new animals for clinical signs while in isolation in your quarantine facility (remember that a negative test may not guarantee freedom from disease). Test new animals for BYD persistently infected (Pl) animals and consider testing for Johne's disease in adult cattle.
• Vaccinate new animals prior to transportation. Realize that vaccinating animals when stressed (recently transported, new environment, recently weaned, etc) may not be the most effective vaccination strategy.

Employees

• Check references and perform background checks for all prospective employees.
• Train all employees to recognize signs of disease, alert the supervisor of suspicious activities, and understand and follow procedures within the biosecurity plan.
• Provide supervision to all new employees.
• Restrict employee access to their respective work areas.
• Train employees in good animal handling techniques. Good stockmanship adds to a positive environment that assists in maintaining animal immunity against disease.
• Train employees to understand that the movement of manure (on clothing, boots, equipment, animals, etc.) is one of the biggest biosecurity risks for on farm movement of diseases.
• Warn employees who have contact with off farm animals of the same species to not track off farm manure onto your farm.
• Require employees to wear clean clothing and boots.
• Create protocols for cleaning clothes daily and for washing boots and hands regularly Require employees to wear gloves when caring for sick animals, assisting with births, and collecting dead animals.
• Require employees to work through groups of animals in a certain order, from clean to dirty, young to old, and healthy to sick, to reduce spreading disease to the more susceptible animals.
• Require employees working in "high risk areas" to remain in those areas or change clothing and footwear before working with the other animals.
• Retrain employees regularly to maintain a high level of employee performance in all their tasks including the biosecurity plan.

Visitors

Visitors include routinely scheduled persons (veterinarians, haulers, fuel/feed deliveries, inseminators, vaccinators, utility readers, etc.) and non-routine persons (tours, salespeople, other livestock owners, and regulatory personnel) that come to your farm.

• No person should enter your farm without your prior approval.
• All visitors should sign a log book. Include information such as date, name, organization, phone number, reason for visit, and the last time they had contact with livestock. This list will be an important tool used by investigators to contain an outbreak.
• Evaluate the level of risk associated with your visitors: Do they own animals? Do they move between farms? Will they have close contact with your animals? Have they recently returned from another country?
• Do not allow anyone who has been on a farm in a foreign country to enter livestock units for a minimum of 5 days after returning to the US. Other countries may have diseases in their herds that are considered Transboundary Animal Diseases to us.
• Restrict visitors to the specific areas required for their task(s). Post signs to inform visitors of rules to follow while on the farm.
• Do not allow visitors to bring food articles with them on the farm.
• Visitors should be provided with new plastic shoe covers, clean rubber boots, or they must brush and then disinfect their shoes/boots with appropriate disinfectant before and after visiting the operation. Disinfectant will not work unless surfaces are clean and an adequate contact time is allowed.
• Visitors who will have contact with animals must wear clean coveralls.
• Visitors must wash hands their hands thoroughly with soap and warm water or hand sanitizer before and after entering animal areas.

• Maintain optimum ventilation and sanitation in all facilities.
• Designate a quarantine/isolation facility on your farm.

• • Make sure isolation facility is well away (> 100 yards) from nearest resident animals with no possibility for nose to nose contact.
  • Isolation facility should be managed as an "all in - all out" (all animals in/all animals out) facility with cleaning and disinfection between groups.

• Locate all animal facilities as far away as possible from any public roads and neighboring farms.
• Lock all gates and storage buildings to keep secure while no one is working there.
• Store hazardous materials used on the farm (such as chemicals, fuels, pesticides, fertilizers) away from animal areas and feed areas and in secure locations with limited access. Maintain inventories and usage logs of these materials.
• Properly maintain equipment, buildings, fences, watering, feeding and waste management systems on a regular schedule.
• Reduce areas with standing water, drainage or run-off problems.
• Locate biosecurity high risk areas away from other animals, such as sick pens and isolation facilities.

• • Maintain strict entry/exit sanitation and traffic control for personnel working in these areas.
  • Clean and disinfect these areas between animals.
  • Restrict the use of each high-risk area to its intended purpose.

• Limit access to your farm through gated entry sites that are clearly posted with signs.
• Post signs advising visitors that this is a biosecure area, and who to contact for entry permission.
• Lock gates and buildings when not in use.
• Repair and maintain fences. Fences should keep pastured animals away from roads and other farms; and should keep predators away from your animals.

• Park vehicles away from animal facilities, feed storage areas, and manure handling routes. Park all vehicles in designated areas, preferably on hard surfaces such as concrete or asphalt. Dirt, mud or manure on vehicles must not be allowed on unpaved areas. Use signs and/or barriers to direct vehicles to the designated areas.
• Do not share vehicles, trailers or equipment with other farms, without cleaning and disinfecting between uses.
• Be prepared to disinfect vehicle tires and wheel wells during a disease outbreak if a vehicle has to drive into the animal production areas of your property.

• Buy feed from known, reliable vendors, and record all transactions.
• Store feed off the ground using feed tanks, pallets, barrels or containers with tight lids and smooth, cleanable surfaces.
• Protect feed from weather and moisture to prevent spoilage and mold growth. Remove and destroy spoiled feed and dispose of refused feed.
• Protect feed from vehicle and foot traffic, as well as from manure run-off.
• Clean up and dispose of feed spills around storage bins and feed tanks to avoid attracting wild birds or rodents.
• Completely clean out all feed storage areas between shipments.
• Feed and equipment delivery points preferably should be located outside the farm's perimeter.

• Use controlled water sources if available.
• Prevent contamination of water sources from manure or dead animals.
• Prevent animals from standing in the source of drinking water.
• Clean and inspect the water delivery system daily.
• Test well water for chemicals, mineral levels, heavy metals and microorganisms periodically.

• Locate manure storage areas away from animal areas and prevent run-off into feed or water sources.
• Remove waste, as needed, and transport it with designated equipment to a designated storage or disposal area.
• A void spreading manure where susceptible animals graze, or, allow adequate time between spreading and returning animals to pasture.
• Be aware of current Confined Animal Facility Operation (CAPO) laws and regulations.

• Develop a written pest control program, including a regular service schedule.
• Follow directions on baiting chemicals and place where resident animals and farm pets do not have access.
• Rodents (mice, rats) - seal potential entry points in buildings to prevent rodent access. Eliminate piles of wood and debris that could serve as rodent hiding places.
• Insects (flies, darkling beetles, mosquitoes) - focus control measures on manure, waste feed, ponds and other areas which are their breeding grounds.
• Wildlife (wild birds, raccoons, opossums, skunks, deer, feral swine) - restrict contact with wild animals using proper fencing, pens or enclosed housing.
• Hunters should keep dead game away from their resident animals.
• Keep pets out of animal production sites, as they can spread disease too!

• Immediately dispose of all dead animals in an approved manner such as burial, incineration, composting, or landfill.
• Confined animal facilities must dispose of dead animals using an approved method or site, as specified in the producer's permitted Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan or Animal Facilities Management Plan. This management plan must provide both a normal and a catastrophic mortality disposal / treatment method. A catastrophic plan must be in place for a disease or natural event in which the mortality rate is higher than normal or more than the daily mortality plan options can handle. Arrange an inspection of sites for non-confined facilities (range animals) to pre-approve mass animal burial sites.
• Submit your animal for post mortem examination to a diagnostic laboratory or have your veterinarian do an exam on the farm to determine cause of death.
• Provide a secure pick up site away from public observation where dead stock vehicles do not have to enter or come near the animal facilities.

Exhibitions should be avoided if possible, or follow the steps below to reduce bringing diseases back to your farm.

Before the Event

• Examine the animals before leaving for the event to make sure they are healthy.
• Clean and disinfect all equipment before it is taken to the event and prior to being returned after the event.

At the Event

• Limit contact between humans and animals and between the different groups of animals.
• Cover feed and equipment to reduce contamination.
• Do not share equipment unless cleaned and disinfected between users.

After the Event

• Change all clothing before returning home.
• Discard any leftover feed and bedding.
• Clean and disinfect equipment before loading for home.
• Isolate and monitor the animals after returning home (using traffic pattern rules and clothing changes you use for regular isolation areas).