Biosecurity Basics and Beyond: Ensuring Your Operation's Future

By Jesse Fulton

Whenever the topic of biosecurity comes up, it's no surprise that many people might find their attention waning due to the complexity of the issue or because they don’t feel they have experienced a biosecurity problem. The reality is that every producer has encountered some sort of biosecurity risk or event at one point or another and may not have been fully aware or didn’t consider the “biosecurity” aspect of the matter.

In recent months, our friends in the dairy industry have been facing a major biosecurity issue with an H5N1 bird flu outbreak. This outbreak is zoonotic, meaning the disease can spread between species. To date, no cases have been reported in the national beef cattle herd, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. This event should prompt many producers to think about biosecurity and the biosecurity risks related to their operations.

The overall goal of biosecurity is to protect animals from disease by minimizing the movement of biologic organisms (such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites) within and/or onto an operation. The key principles to achieve this are physical separation of sick or suspected sick animals, cleaning to remove any contamination, and disinfecting to kill any remaining pathogens.

Producers should practice these basic biosecurity guidelines by developing and implementing a daily biosecurity protocol to protect their operations from outbreaks of sickness and disease. The Beef Quality Assurance program has developed a simple template for producers to use in creating this basic daily biosecurity plan. This plan can be found under the templates section at www.bqa.org.

At the end of the day, a disease outbreak can financially cripple an operation if animal performance is greatly reduced or, worse, if the outbreak results in the death of animals.

Beyond basic biosecurity, the National BQA program has recently been discussing enhanced biosecurity plans. Enhanced biosecurity plans go several steps beyond basic biosecurity measures. They are intended for use in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak.

The beef industry’s main foreign animal disease concern is foot and mouth disease. Foot and mouth disease was eradicated from the U.S. in 1929. However, it is still active in other countries and is easily spread. It is considered the most contagious animal disease known.

It's important to note that foot and mouth disease is not a food safety risk or public health concern. Beef products remain safe to eat. However, public perception would be detrimental. Additionally, one case of foot and mouth disease found in the U.S. would shut down the U.S. beef export market and cut profits for all cattle producers, crippling the U.S. beef industry. To put real financial numbers to that, the U.S. exported over $10 billion of beef and beef products in 2023. Exports add about $425 of value per fed steer or heifer (including meat cuts and offal), which is nearly 20% of the value for every fed carcass.

Because of the financial implications of a foreign animal disease, producers should strongly consider developing an enhanced biosecurity plan or a Secure Beef Supply plan. Developing this plan does not necessarily mean you have to begin implementing it immediately. It only needs to be implemented for the continuity of business in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak. Some beef packers may also require the implementation of a Secure Beef Supply plan to ensure consumers that they are procuring a supply of safe, wholesome, and healthy cattle. Additionally, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture will require the implementation of a Secure Beef Supply plan during an outbreak of a foreign animal disease to receive a livestock movement permit. This permit will be required by the State for all operations within a containment zone during a foreign animal disease outbreak.

If you would like to know more about developing a Secure Beef Supply plan, visit Secure Beef Supply. You can also contact Nebraska BQA at nebraskabqa@unl.edu or call 308.633.0158 for help developing a plan.