BURLINGTON, Vt. — During the summer of 2023, 40 dairy farmers can get expert assistance with developing animal disease emergency plans. Julie Smith, a University of Vermont animal science researcher and veterinarian, along with veterinary student interns, will embark on the Vermont Dairy Mapping Project. The project will help farmers use a mapping tool to prepare their response to a foreign animal disease outbreak, such as foot-and-mouth disease.
Farms are being recruited during spring for the project that will run in June and early July. Smith and the veterinary students will help farmers create “enhanced” biosecurity plans. Enhanced plans detail how a farm will prepare for and respond to a foreign animal disease outbreak. Biosecurity is a set of methods and practices that prevent or greatly reduce the introduction of diseases or pests to farm animals. It can also contain the spread of diseases between farm animals.
An enhanced plan includes a farm map that identifies animal protection zones. A newly developed application, the Secure Ag Farm Mapping App, will be used to create enhanced plan maps.
“The process of creating the map helps farmers visualize where and how to put the brakes on disease spread,” said Smith. “Farmers without such a plan may not be able to move milk if their farm ends up in a disease control area.”
The mapping app was developed by students working with UVM’s Social Ecological Gaming and Simulation Laboratory (SEGS Lab), with oversight by Managing Director Dr. Scott Merrill. The app’s maps are based on aerial views of farms. The app is also flexible enough to be used for mapping hazards or other features of the farm for training purposes.
New England’s dairy milk supply is a vast network of production, processing, and delivery of raw milk and products that crosses several state borders. Vermont is New England’s dairy powerhouse, producing 2.5 billion pounds of milk for the regional milkshed in 2022, from farms large and small, conventional and certified organic.
A foreign animal disease introduction to this milkshed could be devastating for livestock, farmers, and the regional economy. Some foreign animal diseases are highly infectious and can cause mass casualties in livestock and poultry. These diseases are not normally found in the United States and U.S. territories but have the potential to cause significant animal health and economic impacts. Foot-and-mouth disease is the most contagious foreign animal disease of cloven-hooved animals such as cows, pigs, goats, and sheep.
Helping farmers and other agricultural stakeholders plan for and apply disease-preventing biosecurity practices has been a major focus of Smith’s research and outreach programs.
The Vermont Dairy Mapping project adds to Smith’s portfolio to secure the New England milk supply. The goal of these projects is to enhance preparedness of the region for a high consequence disease like foot-and-mouth disease that could send milk prices plummeting, interrupt animal and product movements, and require quarantine and depopulation of affected livestock.
For more information on how to participate in the project, contact [email protected].
Funding is provided through the George H. Walker Milk Research Fund, Farm Bill funding through the USDA APHIS Veterinary Services (VS) National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP) under cooperative agreement AP21VSSP0000C008, and by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant 2022-69014-37041 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
–University of Vermont
