March 2024 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN 15 be a challenge to approve new plans during the event of an outbreak.” The SBS Plan is the result of a multi-year collaborative effort by industry, state, federal and academic representative. Funding for its development was provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The SBS Plan provides guidance only; in an actual outbreak, decisions will be made by the responsible regulatory officials. Developing a plan is also voluntary. The intent is to speed up a successful FMD response and eventually enable the issuance of movement permits after the extent of the outbreak is understood. This will support continuity of business for cattle producers, transporters, packers, processors and allied industries that choose to participate. From a producer’s perspective, continuity of business and movement of cattle is critical, which is why every producer should have a plan in place. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 • It is critical that we find the disease as early as possible to minimize its spread (i.e., report suspicious lesions to your veterinarian). • There will be stop-movement orders issued when an FMD outbreak begins, and you need to be prepared to “hunker down” for a week or more. • You need to have a biosecurity plan ready to prevent the FMD virus from getting onto your operation. • We need to have enough vaccine available to be able to control the spread of the disease without having to depopulate large numbers of animals. • FMD is not a public health or food safety threat. “It would affect just about everything – it would be a total disruption of our system,” Drinnin says of a possible FMD outbreak. “There are trucks coming in and out of the feedyards daily, and that’s also a big part of your plan. How are you going to continue to feed cattle because, one way or another, those cattle have to get fed,” Drinnin adds. If FMD is diagnosed, animal movement will be severely restricted for the first three to seven days or until the size and location of the outbreak is determined. When the extent of the outbreak is determined, movement of animals may start again following the SBS plans. By having a plan in place if FMD is detected and all movement of livestock is halted, cattle operations that follow the guidance of the SBS Plan will be better prepared to request a movement permit once movement restarts. “This process for movement is critical because we don’t want to destroy the livestock industry by over-restricting KEYS POinTS TO THE EFFiCiEnT COnTROl OF an FMD OUTBREaK
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