Herd Health and Biosecurity

Dr. Ron Gill, Extension beef cattle specialist, moderated this morning's beef cattle health workshop.
Gill stressed biosecurity has always been an issue. He urged ranchers to be vigilant in preventing disease from spreading through an operation after purchasing cattle.
"Normally if you get (a disease) introduced (in a herd), you have to deal with it from then on," he said.
Gill said it's critical ranchers quarantine recently purchased cattle until they clear health tests.
"It's just a common sense thing to do," he said.
A quarantine of 21 to 30 days will allow enough time "to make sure you've done all tests on them and make sure everything is all right."

-BLAIR FANNIN
b-fannin@tamu.edu