Biosecurity rises to the top, and when it comes to New World screwworm, said Julia Herman, beef cattle specialist veterinarian with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, adding there are two types of biosecurity plans.
“We have that daily biosecurity plan for practices you’re doing now to protect the herd, and we have an enhanced biosecurity plan that secure beef supply provides,” she said. “This is more specific for foot-and-mouth disease; it is a contagious virus versus New World screwworm or being a fly—so we have to manage those in a little bit different way.”
Some of the biosecurity steps overlap, but not all of them.
“One of the expectations is to walk through this with your entire team, including your veterinarian,” she said. “This is really important for worker training, especially when we have an outbreak or a potential outbreak coming.”
Preparation for NWS if it actually gets to the U.S., should focus on practical and consistent steps the producer and team can implement on a daily basis.
“We don’t expect you to change your entire operation today,” she said. “Work on continuous improvement over time, which coincidentally, is what BQA recommends too. If we improve the basics, we improve our biosecurity.”
Herman said within the Beef Quality Assurance program, there is a herd health plan, a biosecurity plan, and an emergency action plan—all overlap each other. Others might not.
“If you’re working on your herd health plan, you also work on those other plans. So, this includes those biosecurity plan templates,” she said. “But overall, your herd health plan includes that establishing quarantine zone and disease free zones, working on your nutrition, so those animals are healthy, but also training your employees with those day to day basic concepts and show them what you mean when you ask them to go look for signs of New World screwworm.”
Everybody needs to have the same definition or protocol as they’re looking at those animals but also have a communication plan on the operation if and when something is detected or suspected.
“You need to know who to call,” she said. “And then always record keeping, record keeping, record keeping.”
If there’s good management, it will lead to good biosecurity and that will lead to good prevention practices, she said.
“This doesn’t just apply to New World screw worm. It applies to all the diseases that you’re worried about,” Herman said. “So, take those foundational principles of biosecurity that you already know and walk with me through New World screwworm.”
Conclusions
Herman reiterated that NWS is going to affect many industries, not just the livestock industry.
“This is a one health issue. It’s going to affect dogs and cats. It’s going to affect wildlife. It’s going to affect humans,” she said. “We all need to work together. This is collaborative, from the producer to your local veterinarian, to the state vet, to the USDA vet, all the way up to entomologists and labs and Wildlife Services.”
Johannes said even though NWS has been talked about it “forever” it’s because the position is getting stronger and not an indication of things getting worse.
“The fly continues to move north in Mexico. That’s not great, and that is also due in large part two factors outside of our control,” she said. “Because Mexico is a sovereign country, what we can control is, how do we monitor it so that we accurately know where it is? How do we treat it in the United States, if we have it, how do we come up with a plan to respond that doesn’t cripple our industry and our supply chain, and how do we make sure that people know about all of that information?”
Sigrid Johannes, senior executive director of government affairs at NCBA, said to keep track of new information via NCBA or state vet/animal health departments. But she’s positive about what kind of progress has been made, and the plan USDA and others have come up with.
“But truly, the plan that we have now arrived at the federal level, at least, is pretty good, I think, and treats this appropriately and strikes the right balance that we are constantly trying to achieve between continuity of business, free flowing of supply chain, our producers making money, and how do we control the spread of this disease?” she said. “We’ve hit the right balance there, I think, and that is something that hopefully can alleviate a little bit of worry around this.”
Kylene Scott can be reached at 620-227-1804 or [email protected].
