Farm Progress

Slideshow: A total of 15 states participated in a national livestock disease response preparedness exercise.

Nicole Heslip

July 16, 2018

5 Slides

How would Michigan’s ag industry react if it was told a cattle herd in Montana tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease?

That announcement was tested, and its ripple effects were played out in early May by staff of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as livestock groups, processors and farmers to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

Brad Deacon, MDARD emergency management coordinator, believes an FMD outbreak in the U.S. is just as threatening as terrorism and cyber disruptions, making it matter of national security. “When we talk about what horrible things we need to plan for, prepare for and practice for, FMD is definitely on that list,” he says.

Deacon says the Avian Influenza outbreak in 2015 was eye-opening for the livestock industry, and emergency response training drills have since been developed to fine-tune biosecurity preparedness.

“The exercises are the culmination of over a year and a half of planning with other states and the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” he says. “A lot of this is based on lessons learned from the avian influenza outbreak and the engagement that it takes with the livestock industry. This is not something that state or federal government can solve. This really has to be a partnership.”

MDARD, along with USDA and 14 other states, participated in a national livestock disease response preparedness exercise the second week of May. The training tested a wide range of planning and preparedness capabilities. MDARD held three significant events over two days to test its preparedness, practice response procedures and coordinate with the livestock industry.

FMD training on the ground
On the first day of training, the Animal Industry Division Incident Management Teams — with support from MDARD, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and USDA — worked through the immediate steps necessary to respond to a nationally significant foreign animal disease, like FMD, found in the U.S., including tracing possible exposure through animal movement, deploying personnel and equipment assets to the field, imforming the public, and executing contingency plans. A total of 47 people took part as the Incident Management Team — evaluators, facilitators, and simulation cell staff. The exercise demonstrated the complexity and the volume of resources necessary to respond.

The following day, MDARD hosted a discussion-based exercise for the livestock industry, including farmers, associations and processors in Lansing They talked through scenarios and discussed concerns and options, including using components of the Secure Food Supply plans to keep the sector moving while preventing spread of disease.

“The Secure Food Supply plans are the basis for all the states, looking at how can we permit a farm that is not infected to help keep them in business, to move milk to the processing plant, to move animals for processing, while we’re trying our very best to ensure we’re not spreading disease,” Deacon explains.

James Averill, former Michigan state veterinarian who was recently appointed deputy director of MDARD, led the session. “FMD is the most contagious animal disease in the world, affecting our cloven hoof stock — sheep, cattle, pigs and goats, just to name a few,” he says.

Deacon says it’s not a matter of if, but when FMD breaks in the U.S., and the training brings to light what needs to be done by all levels of government and industry.

“The states are working with USDA in this simulated outbreak to try to enhance our preparedness in the event of such a disease outbreak and continue to identify where we have gaps,” he says.

Updates were made throughout the exercise that confirmed another FMD-positive herd was found in Ohio. Groups discussed what the impacts would be to farmers and how the discovery makes waves throughout the industry. Bringing it closer to home, Michigan (in the final scenario) discovered an FMD-positive animal.

The MDARD Sampling Team, made up of field staff from all divisions, also practiced field-based activities critical to a response, including biosecurity measures to ensure that surveillance teams are not spreading the disease.

Deacon says the Sampling Team is MDARD’s surge capacity for those instances in which they’d have to move resources internally to respond to an emergency. “This was an excellent opportunity for inspectors from other programs to learn about the livestock industry and the principles of disease response,” he says.

Using the simulated exercise information from the previous day, staff organized the session in the Coldwater area to evaluate how many farms and what kinds and numbers of livestock would be within a quarantined area. As part of this, MDARD also tested several technology applications to manage real-time data. 

Biosecure everyday
Dale Norton, a pork producer in Branch County and former National Pork Board president, was invited to partake in the livestock industry discussions. He says when he served on the NPB board, the secure pork plan was being developed.

“This exercise is kind of an extension of what we’ve done with the National Pork Board, and as a brainstorming session, it helps you think through what the implications are to movement, to employees, to mental health, and all of the things that can happen or don’t happen when FMD is discovered,” he says.

Biosecurity has been a focus for Norton who recently built new facilities to better protect his animals from disease as part of a farm expansion. “As you extend beyond the building, it gets more complicated, and I think this was a good discussion about things like UPS, deliveries, feed and the things that have to go on, and how you can make them biosecure,” he says.

Norton says FMD has not been in the U.S. since 1929, and while he hopes there never is an outbreak, other diseases could be just as impactful.

“Classical swine fever and African swine fever would have the same effect. They would close down exports, and that’s a major implication for us,” he says.

Deacon says FMD is not a food safety issue for consumers, but it has huge economic ramifications. “When you think about beef, dairy, pork, as well as feed and all the products that are associated, slowing down this sector of the economy would have major economic impacts and ripple effects throughout the entire national economy,” he says.

Averill wants the training to go even further. The next steps for the department will include development of an after-action report and improvement plan that can be shared with other jurisdictions and agencies, as well as coordination with other state agencies and the livestock industry.

He says the training can serve as a reminder to producers to reflect on what a major disease outbreak could mean to their farms. Averill encourages all farmers to create and re-evaluate biosecurity plans regularly to mitigate the risk of diseases.

Heslip works as the Michigan anchor and reporter for Brownfield Ag News.

 

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