ONTARIO, Ore. — Foot-and-mouth disease is a severe, fast-spreading viral disease that affects all cloven-hooved animals.
The virus was first detected in the United States in 1870 and eradicated in 1929, according to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Worldwide, the disease remains present in nearly 70% of cloven-hooved animals.
It has not returned to the United States — yet.
The project aims to reduce profit, production and financial risks by increasing biosecurity training and certification.
A new project led by the Oregon State University Extension Service aims to strengthen regional preparedness by creating a fast-acting information network among Cooperative Extension agents and state veterinarians in Oregon, California and Idaho. The goal: provide timely, accurate information to cattle producers should a foreign animal disease, such as foot-and-mouth, reach the U.S.
Sergio Arispe, Extension livestock and rangeland field faculty in Malheur County and associate professor in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, received nearly $75,000 to enhance biosecurity and disease mitigation strategies for cattle producers across the three states.
The grant, funded by the Western Extension Risk Management Education Center through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, comes at an especially relevant time, Arispe said, noting the recent crossover of highly pathogenic avian influenza into the nation’s dairy cattle population.
Protecting producers from risks
The project aims to reduce profit, production and financial risks by increasing biosecurity training and certification. Arispe and his collaborators — including state veterinarians and Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) coordinators and trainers — plan to reach at least 500 cattle producers across Oregon, California and Idaho.
The BQA program, developed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, teaches best practices that promote safe and wholesome beef. Many packing plants require BQA certification. These practices inherently reduce disease risk and protect producer profitability.
The project uses a “train the trainer” approach: Cooperative Extension faculty receive updated training and in turn share this information with their local producer networks through workshops, association meetings and publications.
“The Extension personnel in these three states then go out and amplify that message, through Extension publications, workshops and presentations to cattle producers,” Arispe said. “The local agents have more trust in the community and they have more contacts.”
Arispe said broader dissemination will help producers understand what to expect during a foreign animal disease outbreak and what steps they can take now to prepare.
Preparing for a possible national standstill
“Foot-and-mouth disease is the most transmissible disease to all cloven-hooved animals worldwide,” Arispe said. “Our efforts would be the same for trying to mitigate production risk, market risk and financial risk for foot-and-mouth disease, but it could be for any foreign animal disease that may come.”
A key aspect of the project is helping producers understand local, state and national disease-response protocols — including how disease findings affect livestock transport.
“At any given time there are about three million animals on our highways, or in our planes or boats,” Arispe said. “There will be at least a 72-hour national standstill declared by the USDA for all cloven-hooved animals if foot-and-mouth disease is ever found in the United States. A lot of producers don’t know that, and that’s only the beginning.”
The project team will also help producers develop enhanced biosecurity plans, which can allow livestock movement in certain situations during an outbreak.
“Our efforts aim to have enhanced biosecurity plans complete for at least 20% of the confined cattle population within each state,” Arispe said. “This project aims to provide a basic overview and proactive activities and measures that people can take to mitigate production, market and financial risks — and the process by which cattle producers can resume business.”
Previously titled Extension aims to reach 500 cattle producers on enhanced biosecurity and foreign disease mitigation
