Feedlot

Second Screwworm Detection 120 Miles from U.S. Border

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 20:54:06 GMT

There was a new detection of New World screwworm (NWS) in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico, approximately 120 miles south of the Texas border.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the case in a 22-month-old bovine transported from Veracruz to a feedlot in Nuevo León.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller in a press release emphasized that Texas remains free from detection, but that state officials and agriculture leaders cannot be complacent.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller today issued the following statement after being notified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of a new detection of the New World screwworm (NWS) in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico, approximately 120 miles south of the Texas… pic.twitter.com/Wb3uIwW3gf
— Texas Agriculture (@TexasDeptofAg) December 3, 2025

“We will keep working shoulder to shoulder with USDA, Mexican animal health authorities, and our own state agency partners to defend our border and Texans from this dangerous threat. We will protect our livestock, safeguard our economy, and do everything possible to keep the New World screwworm at bay,” Miller says.

He also encourages Texas producers to remain watchful for suspicious wounds, unhealed tissue, or maggot activity in livestock, wildlife, and pets, particularly in locations near the border.

Producers who suspect NWS should immediately contact their local veterinarian and state authorities. Early detection, strict livestock movement controls, screwworm fly suppression and rapid response are the best tools to combat this serious threat.

This detection marks the northernmost active case currently found in Mexico. It is also the second detection at the same Nuevo León feedlot since October. No additional cases were linked to the October detection, and both events appear tied to livestock movements from southern Mexico.

For more on NWS, including a current list of NWS detections within 400 miles of the U.S. visit Screwworm.gov .

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The Smell You’ll Never Forget: A Calf Infested with New World Screwworm

Profit Tracker: Beef and Pork Margins Widen for Producers, Decrease for Packers

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:23:36 GMT

Margins widened this week this week for pork and beef producers while packer margins remain in the red for beef at -$34.67 and decreased for pork to $8.65.

Negotiated cash cattle dropped $1.66 per cwt. the week ending Nov. 16 while feedlot margins dropped $27 per head to an industry average of $133.50 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. Meanwhile, beef packers saw profits increase $22 per head to a loss of $34.67 per head. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $168 per head in favor of the feeder.

Cash cattle averaged $184.69 per cwt. the week ending Nov. 16, while Comprehensive Beef Cutout prices posted a $3.49 per cwt. loss to close at $307.96 per cwt.

Cattle marketed last week carried a total feed cost of $439.05 per head, about $13 more than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.

Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $252.31 per cwt., or $1 less per cwt. than a month ago.

The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,657 per head, up from last year’s estimate of $2,402 per head.

Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 487,860 down 2,562 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 83.7.0%, the same as last year.

View the full Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending Nov. 16.

Farrow-to-finish hog producers found positive margins of $37.35 per head last week, up $6.07 from the previous week, according to the Sterling Pork Profit Tracker. A year ago, those margins were at -$27.86. Lean carcass prices averaged $88.01 per cwt., up $2.18 from the previous week.

Hogs placed for finishing last week had a breakeven at $68.08 per head.

Pork packers saw average profits of $9 per head, down $13 from the previous week. Last year pork packer margins were $38.89. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.565 million head, down 11,383 head from the same week last year.

Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 97.8% compared to 98.3% last year.

View the full Sterling Pork Profit Tracker for the week ending Nov. 16.

The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.

(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)

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Profit Tracker: Feedlot Margins Decline as Breakeven Increases; Hog Margins Increase

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 17:07:33 GMT

Negotiated cash cattle increased $0.25 per cwt. the week ending Nov. 1 while feedlot margins dropped $67 per head to an industry average of $129.04 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. Meanwhile, beef packers saw profits decrease $32 per head to a gain of $15.54 per head. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $144 per head in favor of the feeder.

Cash cattle averaged $189.79 per cwt. the week ending Nov. 1, while Comprehensive Beef Cutout prices posted a $0.73 per cwt. gain to close at $316.14 per cwt.

Cattle marketed last week carried a total feed cost of $466.23 per head, about $16 more than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.

Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $255.78 per cwt., or $9 more per cwt. less than a month ago.

The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,714 per head, up from last year’s estimate of $2,475 per head.

Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 494,460 up 3,844 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 84.8% compared to 83.8% last year.

View the full Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending Nov. 1.

Farrow-to-finish hog producers found positive margins of $26.10 per head last week, up $15.20 from the previous week, according to the Sterling Pork Profit Tracker. A year ago, those margins were at -$20.32. Lean carcass prices averaged $84.43 per cwt., up $5.75 from the previous week.

Hogs placed for finishing last week had a breakeven at $67.73 per head.

Pork packers saw average profits of $26 per head, down $3 from the previous week. Last year pork packer margins were $25.83. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.587 million head, down 11,779 head from the same week last year.

Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 98.7% compared to 99.1% last year.

View the full Sterling Pork Profit Tracker for the week ending Nov. 1.

The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.

(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)

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Profit Tracker: Feedlot Margins Rebound, Pork Margins Steady

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 02:20:49 GMT

Negotiated cash cattle traded an average of $1.45 per cwt. higher the fourth week in July and profit margins improved by $24 per head to an industry average of $350 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. Meanwhile, beef packers saw losses increase $6 per head to a loss of $107 per head. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $457 per head in favor of the feeder.

Cash cattle averaged $197.03 per cwt. the week ending July 27, while composite wholesale beef prices posted a $1.93 per cwt. loss to close at $315.37 per cwt. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.

Cattle marketed last week carried a total feed cost of $335.65 per head, down $8.28 per head from the previous week, and about $243 less than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.

Cattle marketed last week had a breakeven of $171.99 per cwt., while cattle placed on feed last week have a breakeven of $182.99 per cwt., which is about $0.18 per cwt. lower than the previous week and $2.68 per cwt. lower than the same week a year ago. Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $260 per cwt., or $5.54 per cwt. less than a month ago. The feeder steer price is 4% higher than last year.

The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,408 per head, up 10% from last year’s estimate of $2,157 per head.

Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 487,800, up 3,763 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 83.3% compared to 82.7% last year.

View the full Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending July 27.

Farrow-to-finish hog producers found positive margins of $37 per head last week, down $1 from the previous week. Lean carcass prices averaged $86.99 per cwt., down $0.18 per cwt. from the previous week.

Pork packers saw average profits of $26 per head, up $10 from the previous week. Last year pork packer margins were $5. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.436 million head, up 64,000 head from the same week last year.

Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 90.2% compared to 88.8% last year.

View the full Sterling Pork Profit Tracker for the week ending July 27.

(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)

Profit Tracker: Feedlot Margins 35% Lower Than One Month Ago

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 18:30:02 GMT

Negotiated cash cattle retreated an average of $0.79 per cwt. the third week in July and profit margins were reduced by $41 per head. Still, those margins averaged $327 profit per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. Meanwhile, beef packers saw losses increase $7 per head to a loss of $101 per head. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $428 per head in favor of the feeder.

Cash cattle averaged $195.58 per cwt. the week ending July 20, while composite wholesale beef prices posted a $3.49 per cwt. loss to close at $317.30 per cwt. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.

Cattle marketed last week carried a total feed cost of $343.93 per head, down $9.12 per head from the previous week, and about $236 less than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.

Cattle marketed last week had a breakeven of $172.23 per cwt., while cattle placed on feed last week have a breakeven of $183.17 per cwt., which is about $0.16 per cwt. higher than the previous week and $1.35 per cwt. higher than the same week a year ago. Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $260 per cwt., or $1.56 per cwt. less than a month ago. The feeder steer price is 7% higher than last year.

The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,411 per head, up 10% from last year’s estimate of $2,180 per head.

Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 482,384, down 4,889 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 82.4% compared to 83.2% last year.

Farrow-to-finish hog producers found positive margins of $38 per head last week, down $7 from the previous week. Lean carcass prices averaged $87.17 per cwt., down $2.40 per cwt. from the previous week.

Pork packers saw average profits of $16 per head, up $14 from the previous week. Last year pork packer margins were $6. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.371 million head, up 43,000 head from the same week last year.

Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 88.4% compared to 85.9% last year.

(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)

Profit Tracker: Feedlot Breakevens Near $190 Per Cwt.

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 17:24:49 GMT

Negotiated cash cattle sold at all-time highs the first week in July and higher for the seventh consecutive week. Still, cattle feeding margins declined $12 per head for an industry average $451 per head. Meanwhile, beef packers saw their margins improve $40 per head to a loss of $46 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $497 per head in favor of the feeder.

Cash cattle averaged $198.22 per cwt. the week ending July 6, while composite wholesale beef prices posted $6.03 per cwt. gains to close at $324.47 per cwt. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.

Cattle sold last week carried a total feed cost of $355.47 per head, up $1.50 per head from the previous week, and about $226 less than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.

Cattle marketed last week had a breakeven of $166.02 per cwt., while cattle placed on feed last week have a breakeven of $189.95 per cwt., which is about $1 per cwt. higher than the previous week and $13.80 per cwt. higher than the same week a year ago. Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $269.99 per cwt., or $13.90 per cwt. more than a month ago. The feeder steer price is 13% higher than last year.

The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,324 per head, up 8% from last year’s estimate of $2,134 per head.

Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 424,457, down 75,532 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 72.5% compared to 72.7% last year.

Farrow-to-finish hog producers found positive margins of $57 per head last week, up $43 from the previous week. Lean carcass prices averaged $93.30 per cwt., up $2.33 cents per cwt. from the previous week.

Pork packers saw average losses of $9 per head, compared to near breakeven the previous week. Last year pork packer margins were $5. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.045 million head, up 92,000 head from the same week last year.

Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 75.8% compared to 72.5% last year.

(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)

Profit Tracker: Profits Near Triple-Digits

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:16:25 GMT

Cattle feeders turned a tidy profit for the second consecutive week. Average feedyard margins last week were $92 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker , $40 better than the previous week. The gains came on a $3 rally in fed cattle prices for the second straight week. The 5-area fed cattle price was $114.20 per cwt.

The total cost of finishing a steer last week was $1,497, compared to $1,492 the previous week and $2,198 last year. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.

Beef packer margins decreased $15 per head to $92. Packers earned an average of $26 per head during the same period a year ago.

A month ago cattle feeders were losing $48 per head, while a year ago losses were calculated at $480 per head. Feeder cattle represent 74% of the cost of finishing a steer, compared to 79% last year.

Farrow-to-finish pork producers lost $24 per hog last week, about $9 less than the week before. A month ago farrow-to-finish pork producers lost about $35 per head.

Pork packers saw their margins decline $7 per head to $47. Negotiated prices for lean hogs were $47.33 per cwt. last week, about $4 per cwt. higher. Cash prices for fed cattle are $9 per cwt. lower than last year and prices for lean hogs are $7 per cwt. lower.

Sterling Marketing president John Nalivka projects average cash profit margins for cow-calf producers at $144 per cow this year. In 2017, Nalivka projects cow-calf losses of $24. Last year’s estimated average cow-calf margins were $432 per cow.

Profit Tracker: From Bad to Better

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 19:16:25 GMT

Feedyard margins improved last week despite a $3 per cwt. decline in cash cattle prices. That’s because the cost of feeder cattle calculated against last week’s closeouts was about $80 per head less than the prior week, according to Sterling Marketing , Vale, Ore. Cattle feeders lost an average of $41 on every animal shipped, about $48 per head less than the previous week.

Cash prices traded at $106.57, a $3 decline and $8 per cwt. lower than a month ago. The total cost of finishing cattle last week was $1,525, compared to $1,615 the previous week and $2,078 last year, according to Sterling Marketing.

Beef packer margins decreased $21 per head to $122. Packers earned an average of $82 per head during the same period a year ago.

A month ago cattle feeders were losing $59 per head, while a year ago losses were calculated at $280 per head. Feeder cattle represent 73% of the cost of finishing a steer, compared to 77% last year.

Farrow-to-finish pork producers lost $27 per hog last week, about $8 per head more than the week before. A month ago farrow-to-finish pork producers lost about $1 per head.

Pork packers saw their margins improve $4 per head to a total of $40, compared to $36 profits the week before. Negotiated prices for lean hogs were $54 per cwt. last week, a decline of $4 per cwt. from the previous week. Cash prices for fed cattle are $23 per cwt. lower than last year and prices for lean hogs are $17 per cwt. lower.

Sterling Marketing president John Nalivka projects average cash profit margins for cow-calf producers at $178 per cow this year. In 2017, Nalivka projects cow-calf profits of $82. Last year’s estimated average cow-calf margins were $432 per cow.

Cattle Outlook: Beef Production Idling

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:41:13 GMT

Beef production is slated to slow globally compared to pork and chicken.
By: Ron Plain and Scott Brown. University of Missouri

USDA’s Foreign Ag Service released 2015 projections for global meat production and trade a couple of weeks ago. Projections show a decrease in world beef production of 1.4% next year, compared to 1.1% growth for pork production and 1.5% growth for chicken. Brazil, the world’s second largest producer of beef behind the U.S., is expected to increase beef production by 3.0% next year. Combined with an expected U.S. production decline of 2.3%, U.S. beef production will only exceed Brazil’s output by 6.4% next year, compared to a 32.7% gap as recently as 2011. Countries expected to increase beef imports next year include Hong Kong, China, Egypt and Canada. Brazil, India, Uruguay and Paraguay will see the largest export gains, while shipments from Australia, the U.S. and Canada are projected to contract due to tighter supplies.

The U.S. Trade Representative announced this week that a final agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement being negotiated by 12 Pacific Rim countries including the United States, is not expected to be announced in the coming month. A USDA/ERS report released this week assessing the impact of eliminating tariffs and tariff-rate quotas in these nations by 2025 (one hypothetical TPP scenario) found that U.S. meat export value could be $1 billion higher due to TPP by 2025. The value of U.S. meat imports would grow about one-fourth of that amount. Crucial to any timeline of concluding TPP is whether a trade promotion authority bill can be passed through Congress.

Fed cattle prices pulled back slightly from last week’s record high. Through Thursday, the 5-area average price for slaughter steers sold on a live weight basis was $167.42/cwt, down $1.25 from last week but up $35.23 from a year ago. The 5 area average dressed price for steers gained $0.07 this week to $263.88/cwt. This is $54.81 higher than last year’s dressed price average of $209.07/cwt.

Boxed beef cutout values advanced this week. The cutout value for choice carcasses this morning was $251.77/cwt, up $4.73 from last Friday and up $47.44 from a year ago. The select cutout was $239.17/cwt, up $6.73 for the week and $49.59 for the year. Today’s choice-select spread of $12.60/cwt is $2 tighter than last week.

This week’s cattle slaughter totaled 553 thousand head, down 4.0% from the week before, and 11.2% lower than the same week last year. It was the lightest non-holiday week cattle run since early March. The average dressed weight for steers slaughtered the week ending October 18 was 898 pounds, down 1 pound from last week’s record but 23 pounds heavier than the same week last year.

Feeder cattle prices were mostly $2 lower to $2 higher this week at Oklahoma City. This week’s price ranges for medium and large frame #1 steers by weight group were: 400-450# $330-$339, 450-500# $280-$305, 500-550# $263-$296, 550-600# $245-$306, 600-650# $226-$260, 650-700# $220-$251.75, 700-750# $223-$240, 750-800# $228-$239, 800-900# $212-$236.75, and 900-1000# $208-$222.50/cwt.

The December live cattle futures contract closed at $166.05/cwt today, down 85 cents for the week. February fed cattle settled at $166.10/cwt. The November feeder cattle contract fell 50 cents on the week to end at $234.15/cwt.

Today’s Ag Prices report showed that the preliminary October corn price fell for the fifth consecutive month, coming in at $3.28. However December corn closed today at $3.77, up 24 cents from last Friday and at the highest close since mid-August. Meanwhile December soybean meal futures finished at $389 per ton, up $39 from last week and $90/ton higher than last month’s close.

Groups Sue EPA Seeking Livestock Farm Air Quality Standards

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:51:19 GMT

A coalition of environmental, animal rights and citizen action groups filed two lawsuits Wednesday alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is failing to address air pollution problems from large-scale livestock farms.

The lawsuits, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, say the EPA has not responded to petitions filed in 2009 and 2011 by the Environmental Integrity Project and the Humane Society of the United States. Those petitions asked the agency to categorize large-scale livestock farms as sources of pollution under the Clean Air Act, set air quality standards for new and existing facilities and set health-based standards for ammonia.

The lawsuits say the EPA failed to take action and ask it to respond to the petitions within 90 days, Environmental Integrity Project attorney Tarah Heinzen said.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the lawsuits and had no immediate comment.

Joining the EIP and Humane Society in the lawsuits are citizen groups including Clean Wisconsin, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and the California-based Association of Irritated Residents.

They claim ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and other manure-generated contaminants in livestock-heavy states such as Iowa and North Carolina — the nation’s top two pork producers — make people sick.

“In the last 15 years our enjoyment of the outdoors have been severely degraded due to toxic emissions from the numerous large-scale hog factories that now surround our home,” said Rosie Partridge, a member of the Iowa citizens group whose northwest Iowa home is surrounded by more than 30,000 hogs. “We are nauseated at times from this choking smell of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia as well as the odor of decaying animals.”

Tom Frantz, a farmer and President of the Association of Irritated Residents, noted that the San Joaquin Valley has seen the number of dairies jump in the last decade.

“Ammonia emissions from factory farm dairies are causing the highest fine particulate matter levels in the United States, which seriously harms our health while EPA has done nothing,” he said.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association spokesman Chase Adams said beef producers are making improvements without government intervention. They have reduced emissions to water by 10 percent and cut production of greenhouse gases by 2 percent from 2005 to 2011, the trade group spokesman said, citing a report released last year.

Spokesmen for dairy and pork producers’ groups did not immediately respond to messages.

Kansas Agency Has No Full-time Large-scale Feedlot Engineers

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:29:37 GMT

Millions of cattle and hogs fatten up at Kansas’ more than 1,750 large-scale livestock feedlots, yet the state regulatory agency entrusted with overseeing those confined feeding operations has no full-time professional environmental engineers at the moment.

There are four vacancies in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Livestock Waste Management Section, the last created by a retirement in November. That’s created a backlog of between 20 and 30 permits for new or expanding feeding operations and delays of an additional three months to process wastewater permit applications for confined animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs, said Tara Mahin, the section’s head.

“It has really put the brakes on anybody getting a new facility started or expanding their facility,” said Mahin, who hired a part-time engineer in February and notes that it’s hard to recruit replacements because of a shortage of available engineers and the lower government pay compared to private industry.

The state says the vacancies aren’t causing public safety concerns because wastewater plans for new or expanding facilities are still being reviewed — though at a slower pace — but activists and residents who live near the feedlots say qualified engineers are needed to protect the environment and the people living near the facilities.

“The public should care because the two main risks of waste management in these CAFOs is the leakage of waste to groundwater or overflow to surface water,” said Craig Volland, chairman of the agriculture committee for the Kansas Sierra Club. “And in order to ensure this does not occur, it requires sufficient engineering judgment to ensure these are done correctly.”

Kansas — which the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says has the nation’s third-most cattle in feedlots at 2.09 million — does not require CAFO developers to use a professional engineer to draw up the plans for their facilities, although most of them do, Volland said, noting that makes it even more vital for state regulators reviewing such plans to have qualified engineers.

Mahin pointed out that engineers don’t handle the routine inspections of existing facilities.

Joyce Quinn found out about the vacancies when she tried to call the engineer she normally deals with in order to check on the proposed expansion of a hog-feeding facility near her home in Almena, just a few miles from the Nebraska border.

“I was very surprised to find out there weren’t any engineers,” Quinn said. “I don’t know how they can expect to go through the applications and determine who is going to be permitted if they don’t even have someone on staff to do that job. And it’s a big issue in our county.”

She said she is concerned about the water, because that resource won’t be there forever and CAFOs use a lot of it. Plus, she said, the methane from the feedlots is so bad that if you go outside in the evening it gives you a headache, although she concedes that without state air quality laws on the books there is not much the engineers can do about that.

“We can’t be in our yards any more in the evenings because it just reeks,” Quinn said. “When it rains, we don’t know what ... the rain smells like anymore.”

The Kansas Livestock Association has its own for-profit company that offers environmental engineering services, said Clayton Huseman, executive director of the KLA’s feedyard division.

“This isn’t a pressing issue from our standpoint,” Huseman said. “We don’t have the industry beating on our door saying we have a problem here that needs to be fixed.”

But the private industry’s engineers are working on behalf of the facilities’ developers, not the public interest, Volland argues.

“KDHE’s job is to provide these technical overviews on behalf of the public interest, he said. “There needs to be somebody with adequate qualifications to double check the work of the CAFOs or livestock operations.”

Secure Food Supply Resources Available to Livestock Producers

In the event of a foreign disease outbreak, livestock producers need to be prepared. Resources have been created by industry experts for those raising food animals, including beef and dairy cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. Knowledge and preparedness can help livestock producers across the U.S. develop and put contingency plans in place for their individual operations. These guidelines can be found at securefoodsupply.org , as well as additional species-specific websites.

“The Secure Beef Supply plan has been developed for cattle producers to prepare them and help them in efforts to protect their livestock against foreign animal disease outbreaks, specifically Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD),” says Meranda Small, Idaho State BQA Coordinator, who presented this information at the Idaho Cattle Association Annual meeting. “Producers have a role to play in helping be prepared for an outbreak.”

“FMD, while harmless to us as human beings, causes blisters and animals with cloven-hooved, which includes cattle, pigs, sheep and goats,” Small says. “It also has the ability to impact and equally affect wildlife species such as deer, elk and bison, giving them the opportunity to move the disease across state lines and from one location to another.”

Sergio Arispe serves as an Oregon State University Extension livestock and rangeland field faculty and associate professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences. He also serves as the lead for the Secure Beef Supply project to mitigate risks of a foreign disease outbreak.

“The purpose of traceability is for transparency, not only within the livestock industry, but with our trade partners as well,” Arispe says, who also presented at the ICA meeting. “Movement permits demonstrate that steps have been taken to safely move animals or products.”

Arispe says it’s important for producers to be knowledgeable and prepared if and when an outbreak might occur. Producers can create a five-step contingency document, which addresses cattle inventory and potential movement, financial planning, enhanced biosecurity, communication and cattle health management.

The Secure Food Supply project helps producers, livestock haulers and processors create contingency plans in case of disease outbreak.

(Secure Beef Supply)

“At any given time there are about 3 million animals on our highways, or in our planes or boats,” Arispe says. “There will be at least a 72-hour national standstill declared by the USDA for all cloven-hoofed animals if foot-and-mouth disease is ever found in the U.S. A lot of producers don’t know that, and that’s only the beginning.”

According to Small, stamping out or depopulation is one control method that is used by animal health officials to stop disease spread. This method was used by the UK during their 2001 outbreak. Additional control methods include stopping both domestic movement of animals and animal products for a period of time. Exports of animals with clinical signs would also stop. Emergency vaccination would be considered, but also has export implications.

“The first goal is always to identify disease as fast as possible, put the controls in place to limit the spread, and stop the virus without having to implement vaccination,” explains Idaho State Veterinarian Scott Leibsle, who was on hand to answer audience questions. “You can still achieve the highest level of trade status, which is free from the disease without having to vaccinate for it. If you have to start vaccinating for it, then that lowers the trade status of any nation. There are countries that are free from FMD, but they’re still having to vaccinate for it and we don’t accept trade from any of those countries that vaccinate for foot and mouth disease.”

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