A paradigm shift for disease traceability

Chris McGann
Communications

Veterinarian Jake Murphy swipes a RFID reader wand past
the ear tag on a cow at Everson Auction Market. The system
quickly and accurately records disease traceability information.

During lunch hour on a warm summer day earlier this month, WSDA Director Derek Sandison walked into the Everson Auction Market café and a scene that harkened back to the small-town America of 60 years ago. He settled onto a vintage swivel stool along a narrow lunch counter -- friendly waitress, handwritten menu on the wall, cash only.

Sandison ordered a burger.

This is probably not the first place most people would look to find cutting-edge software or industry-leading technology.

Through the doors behind him, the tidy auction floor was bright with a fresh layer of sawdust. Early birds talked quietly in the bleachers while they waited for the afternoon sale to start.

The pace matched the setting when the bidding began. A tiny Jersey bull calf was first on the block, then a few other slightly larger calves, and finally some individual heifers nervously stamping around the pen against the cadence of the auctioneer’s call.

WSDA Director Derek Sandison (right) hears about a new RFID
project from veterinarians Amber Itle and Brian Joseph. 

But Sandison hadn’t come to buy cattle, or for the nostalgia.  He was there to see the future of animal disease traceability (ADT).

Behind the scenes at this small sale barn in this little town just south of the Canadian border, a demonstration project initiated by WSDA veterinarian Dr. Amber Itle, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is ushering a new era for ADT.

This first-of-its-kind project in Washington is integrating radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that allows sale-yard veterinarian’s to capture electronic ID with a wand reader. This animal health information is used to generate electronic Certificate of Veterinarian Inspections (CVI), brucellosis test records and brucellosis vaccination records in the market system.

Dr. Itle gave Sandison a tour of the facility’s veterinarians inspection area where animals that will be sold at the market and returned to the country receive an official RFID ear tag the vet enters into the system with a wand reader. With that, CVI and vaccinations administered can be quickly and accurately recorded.

Animals headed for slaughter pass by a “panel reader” for RFID in the cattle chute to record the time an place of the animal prior to going to the harvest facility where they will be read one last time to confirm the animal was actually killed.

Sandison was impressed by what he saw.

A Holstein cow moves past an RFID reader panel in a chute
at Everson Auction Market.  

“This program is much more than a demonstration project,” he said. “It’s a paradigm shift for the industry.”

All ADT market data is transmitted electronically to WSDA’s ADT system, “Animal Tracks,” in real time at the close of each sale. Everson has been successfully using the enhancements for more than a year.

ADT is critical to ensuring a rapid response when animal disease events take place. An efficient and accurate traceability system reduces the number of animals and response time involved in a disease investigation, which also reduces the economic impact on cattle producers.

In the last year, WSDA’s ADT Program has focused on building infrastructure for capturing electronic individual identification at public livestock markets and slaughter facilities. This year, WSDA is working to identify additional opportunities to electronically collect traceability movement information during commerce and comingling locations. These comingled locations pose a higher risk for potential disease spread and are a higher priority areas for ADT.

Currently, all of Washington’s major livestock markets are in the process of implementing upgrades. Once completed, WSDA will have full traceability information for 99 percent of market cattle.

Slaughter facilities 

As of February 2019, four of the largest slaughter facilities in Washington are capturing and sharing official individual RFID information at harvest. Currently, WSDA’s Animal Tracks can capture 98 percent of all animals with electronic official individual RFID tags harvested in our state. WSDA is the first state to implement a tag retirement system in the country.

Long-term phasing in for the ADT Program

USDA plans to phase in mandatory official RFID by 2023. Identifying the majority of cattle with RFID is much more accurate and efficient than a system that requires manual recording of individual identification.

WSDA is currently using local and federal funds to purchase official RFID tags for markets collecting and reporting animal health and movement information electronically to the state veterinarian. In addition, WSDA has been using funds to purchase tags in preparation for a tag promotion for veterinarians that perform brucellosis vaccinations and producers that use the Electronic Cattle Transaction Reporting system later this year. Currently, WSDA provides free tags to all markets that report electronically.

This temporary subsidy will help producers transition to the RFID before USDA phases out metal tags starting in December 2019.

For more information about ADT and RFID, visit the Animal Health section of our web page.

Modernizing the Livestock Inspection Program

Jodi Jones
Animal Health Program

A new law for WSDA's brand program goes into effect this summer. 

Last month, Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation intended to restore financial solvency to our Livestock Inspection Program (LID).

The program, which has roots dating back to the 1860s, is entirely funded by fees paid by the livestock industry and receives no state general fund dollars.

But in recent years, the program has been in financial crisis. The inspection fees it relies on are set in statute and had not been adjusted since 2006. Over time, rising costs outpaced fee revenue.

The livestock industry worked with the Washington State Legislature to develop a new fee structure to fully fund the program. Here are some of the major program changes taking effect this summer.

Program changes

The LID Program provides asset protection and theft deterrence for the livestock industry through inspections, verifying ownership documentation, and issuing a clear "title" to the new owner. We conduct proof of ownership inspections at five critical points:

• At change of ownership.
• At out-of-state movement.
• When offered for sale at a public livestock market.
• When delivered to a USDA slaughter facility.
• When delivered to a certified feedlot.

The new law

• Expands the Livestock Identification Advisory Committee from six to 12 members.
• Modifies livestock inspection fees.
• Allows WSDA-certified private livestock inspectors to perform livestock inspections.
• Expands the Electronic Cattle Transaction Reporting (ECTR) system for dairy cattle to all cattle.
• Takes effect July 28, 2019.

The following sections expire on July 1, 2023

• Livestock Identification Advisory Committee.
• Inspection fees.
• Certified feedlot audit fees.
• Public livestock market inspection fees.

Legislation will be required to extend LID program fees and inspection activities beyond that date.

New inspection fees

Under the bill passed by the Legislature, fees for livestock inspections rose by 10 percent, except the inspection fee for unidentified cattle which are defined as cattle that have a brand that is not recorded to the owner and cattle that are not identified with an official electronic individual identification tag. The fee for unidentified cattle changed from $1.60 to $4 per head.

Details

• The inspection fee for identified cattle is $1.21 per head.
• The inspection fee for horses is $3.85 per head.
• The audit fee for certified feedlots is 28 cents per head.
• A $20 call-out fee replaces the time and mileage fee and will be collected for all inspections.
• The annual license fee for a certified feed lot will be $935.
• Annual fees for livestock markets are $165, $330, or $495, depending on average gross sales.
• The brand-recording fee is increased from $120 to $132.
• Applications to transfer a brand carries a $27.50 fee.
• The transfer fee for "legacy brands," that have been in use for at least 25 years, is $100.

Livestock Identification Advisory Committee

Through July 1, 2023, Livestock Identification Advisory Committee membership is increased from six to 12 members with two members from each of the groups currently represented. No more than two members of the committee may reside in the same county. The committee must meet at least twice per year.

Veterinarian certification and field livestock inspectors

Veterinarians and others who apply to be certified to perform livestock inspections must submit an application and complete training. The bill requires WSDA to maintain a list of field livestock inspectors for at least six geographic regions who are certified to perform livestock inspections.

Training will include:

• Reading of printed brands.
• Reading of brands or other marks on animals, including the location of brands on animals.
• Reading of an electronic ID or other electronic official individual identification of cattle.
• Completion of official documents.
• Review of satisfactory ownership documents.

WSDA may adopt fees to cover the costs associated with providing training. A certified veterinarian or a field livestock inspector is not considered a WSDA employee. Livestock inspection certification of certified veterinarians and field inspectors may be suspended or revoked under certain circumstances.

Electronic Cattle Transaction Reporting System

The use of the Electronic Cattle Transaction Reporting (ECTR) System, which is currently used only to report changes of ownership for unbranded dairy cattle, is expanded to all cattle. The ECTR system may be used to report transactions electronically as an alternative to mandatory inspections. ECTR may also be used to report the inspection of animals that are being moved out of state. Use of the ECTR system for reporting cattle ownership changes or out-of-state movement requires a WSDA license. All cattle that are reported in ECTR must have an official electronic individual identification tag.

WSDA may adopt ECTR application, licensing and reporting fees by rule. Fees must be adjusted by rule to match, as closely as practicable, amounts needed to cover ECTR system costs. If surplus ECTR revenues are generated because a substantial number of cattle owners use ECTR to report electronically, the current ECTR reporting fee of $1.30 per head will be reduced substantially by rule.

Moving toward modernizing cattle identification

On April 10, 2019, the USDA announced a phased transition to increased official electronic identification of cattle until official electronic identification becomes an industry-wide requirement at the beginning of 2023.

Coordinating a reassessment of the new LID program fee structure with the new federal policy is appropriate. Legislation will be required to extend LID program inspection activities beyond the July 2023 expiration. The ECTR fee section for reporting electronically identified cattle transactions does not expire.

Official electronic identification is a step forward for animal disease traceability, food safety, international trade, and the long-term economic viability of the livestock industry.

Expectations and uncertainties

Fee revenues are expected to cover program costs through July of 2023.  The new $4 fee rate on unidentified animals may be an incentive for producers to identify their animals at a lower fee. This creates some fiscal uncertainty because we don’t know which identification options producers will favor most. We do however expect the legislation to increase electronic official identification and help modernize Washington’s cattle identification system, supporting a more robust animal disease traceability program.

Going Forward

We will be closely monitoring how producers respond to the new fees and reforms to make sure program expenditures don’t exceed program revenues. We are hopeful that the new fee structure will provide sufficient revenue to bring the livestock inspection program back to solvency.

Email LivestockID@agr.wa.gov for questions on the new fees.

Tips for horse owners – protecting your animal from Equine Herpesvirus

Dr. Scott Haskell
Assistant State Veterinarian

Late last week, the Department of Agriculture was notified of one laboratory-verified case of Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy, or EHV-1 wildtype, in Washington.

EHV-1 is a highly contagious virus that can be fatal to horses. The disease is spread from horse to horse through direct contact, on feed, tack and equipment. While people are not made sick by the virus, they can carry the virus on their clothes or hands. Horse owners should carefully wash their hands and equipment to prevent the spread of the virus.

WSDA is not currently establishing any quarantine, but our field veterinarians are actively tracing all areas where the infected horse might have contacted other animals.

Given the high risk of contamination, here are additional recommendations for horse owners.

Watch for symptoms
Closely observe your horse and look for signs of possible infection, which include:

• Fever of 102.5 degrees F or higher
• Discharge from eyes or nose
• Limb edema or swelling
• Spontaneous abortions
• Neurologic signs such as an unsteady gait, weakness, urine dribbling, lack of tail tone and recumbency.

Be sure to obtain and record the body temperatures of all horses on the premises twice a day, ideally first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and always before administering medications since some can decrease body temperature.

Let your veterinarian know if you detect a fever or notice any of the other symptoms listed. The veterinarian may want to take nasal swabs or blood samples to test for EHV-1.

EHV-1 testing at WSU
Suspected cases should be checked for both West Nile Virus and EHV1 by a veterinarian.  The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Pullman is providing testing.

Veterinarians should contact WADDL at 509-335-9696 to submit a red top and lavender top tube with nasal swabs directly to Dr. Jim Everman or Dr. Kevin Snekvik at WADDL.

Vaccines
It’s not too late to vaccinate your horse against EHV and there are a number of vaccines available.

Several EHV-1 vaccines available in North America carry a label claim for the control of respiratory disease induced by EHV-1 and EHV-4. These are multi-component inactivated vaccines specifically, Prestige® (Merck), Calvenza® (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica) and Fluvac Innovator® (Zoetis) and the modified live vaccine Rhinomune® (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica).

There are also two EHV-1 vaccines licensed for the control of abortion and respiratory disease. These vaccines are single-component inactivated vaccines, namely Pneumabort-K® (Zoetis) and Prodigy® (Merck).

Biosecurity – steps to protect your horse and others
To protect your horse from becoming infected, and help limit the potential spread of this virus, there are several things all horse owners should be doing.

1. Monitor all horses on your premises.
2. Limit direct horse-to-horse contact.
3. Limit stress to horses.
4. Don’t share equipment.
5. Clean barn areas, stables, trailers, or other equine contact surfaces thoroughly, removing all organic matter (dirt, nasal secretions, uneaten feed, manure, etc.) before applying a disinfectant. Organic material decreases the effectiveness of any disinfectant, especially if 10% bleach is used.
6. Use footwear disinfectant and hand sanitizer where indicated.
7. If you have a potentially exposed horse, restrict human, pet and vehicle traffic from the area where the exposed horse is stabled.
8. Clean all shared equipment and shared areas, again removing dirt and manure before application of a disinfectant.
9. Self-quarantine animals with questionable sysmptoms.
10. If you have mules, isolate them from horses since recent studies suggest mules can be silent carriers of the virus.

The time of exposure to illness of EHV-1 is typically two to 14 days. By self-quarantining animals with questionable symptoms, vaccinating horses for EHV-1 and West Nile virus, and practicing good biosecurity on the farm and during travel, horse owners can do a lot to help prevent further spread of the virus.

We’ll be sure to provide any updates here on the AgBriefs blog.

WSDA names assistant state vet, search for state vet continues

Hector Castro
Communications 

A veterinarian with extensive experience with large animals and agriculture will be joining WSDA as the new assistant state veterinarian.

Dr. Scott Haskell

Dr. Scott Haskell, whose family raised beef cattle, sheep and tree crops, has more than 30 years experience as a veterinarian. He begins his new position with the agency on Aug. 1.

Dr. Haskell is originally from Oregon and studied at the University of California, Davis. He was in large animal veterinary practice for 18 years before entering academia and public service, serving as a professor with Yuba College in California, where he was the director of the Veterinary Technology Program and chair of the school’s Agriculture and Plant Science Program.

Dr. Haskell is experienced in disease outbreak investigations and biosecurity and has a long history of working with the livestock industry, agriculture fairs and is currently a 4H advisor.

Washington’s Office of the State Veterinarian has a wide range of responsibilities which include enforcing state and federal regulations on livestock movement, investigating animal disease outbreaks, maintaining animal health records, and other animal movement records, as well as safeguarding the public by identifying and limiting the exposure to zoonotic diseases through disease surveillance, identification and traceability.

WSDA is continuing its search for a new state veterinarian, a position that is currently vacant.

Shipping cattle to another state? Quick rule reviews available online

David Hecimovich
Animal Disease Traceability manager

If you’re shipping dairy or beef cattle across state lines and want quick information on interstate travel requirements, there’s a relatively new website you should check out. 

InterstateLivestock.com, sponsored by the U.S. Animal Health Association (USAHA) and the National Institute for Animal Agriculture, has been operating since October. 

The information posted on the website makes it easier for producers, veterinarians and marketers to understand and meet animal health import requirements before moving cattle. Once online, users enter the state they are shipping from and the destination state. The user then will be asked pertinent questions including species, sex, and age of the livestock; certificate of veterinary inspection status, and other necessary details. 

State animal health officials collaborated on creating the site. Each state, including Washington, updates its import requirements on the website when new or amended livestock rules are adopted. 

The website provides instant access to shipping information without having to call a specific state about requirements. Navigating the website is quick and easy to follow. Check out InterstateLivestock.com today.

How dairy producers and livestock sellers can help keep cattle healthy and safe

by Dawn Grummer

Animal Disease Traceability

Are you a livestock seller or dairy producer selling cattle under the “15-head” livestock inspection exemption?  If you are, there are a few changes you should know about.

The first change is that, beginning  July 1, 2015, WSDA began collecting an Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) fee on all cattle. The 15-head exemption from livestock inspection does not exempt dairy producers or livestock sellers from paying this new ADT fee. In fact, failing to pay the fee can result in a civil penalty of up to $250 per violation or per head.

We were contacted recently by a livestock seller asking for an easy way to track transactions and submit the ADT fee. Working with that seller, WSDA's Animal Disease Traceability Program created an ADT Fee Remittance form  that you can use. This form will make tracking ownership transfers under the “15-head exemption” and the remittance of the ADT fee easy for dairy producers or livestock sellers.

So, how much is this fee? The new rule established an ADT fee of 23 cents per head on all cattle sold or slaughtered in the state or transported out of state. There is a fee of 5 cents per head on all out-of-state cattle that are shipped directly to a federally inspected slaughter facility. 

Normally, a WSDA livestock inspector will collect the fee at the time of inspection. However, right now there is an exemption from the livestock inspection requirements. Commonly known as the “15-head exemption,” it allows individual private sales of unbranded female dairy breed cattle involving 15 head or less to take place without inspection by the WSDA.

The 15-head exemption is going away and will no longer be available as of January 1, 2016. At that time, all cattle will be required to get a livestock inspection or report livestock ownership transfers through an Electronic Cattle Transaction Reporting system (ECTR), once made available by the department.

No one likes to pay a fee. But the ADT fee is about protecting the livestock industry. The money raised through this fee will help support our state's animal disease traceability activities, including maintaining a robust database that can be used in an animal disease outbreak to quickly and accurately locate and quarantine the source of the disease. Having this ability will not only provide assurance to your customers that they are purchasing safe, quality products, but also will provide each of you assurance that in the case of a disease outbreak, the risk of spreading the disease is greatly limited.

Reporting ownership transfers and paying the ADT fee is a vital step in protecting public health and maintaining the economic vitality of our livestock industries. If you want more information on our state's animal disease traceability efforts, email adtwa@agr.wa.gov or call our Animal Disease Traceability Program at (360) 725-5493 or (360) 902-1987.

Inspecting livestock in the 21st Century

By:  Lynn Briscoe
Animal Services Division 

Our Livestock Inspection Program working at the Stockland Livestock Auction in Davenport recently hosted a few guests from Idaho's State Brand Department, Department of Agriculture and even the federal Department of Homeland Security.

WSDA's Kyle Schaffer demonstrates the new
system to Ken Wood of the Idaho Brand Board.

Why did they join us? Like many of our counterparts in neighboring states and nearby Canadian provinces, the representatives from Idaho and the federal government were interested in WSDA's new electronic system for tracking data collected during a livestock inspection.  

All this month, our Livestock Inspection Program has been working on this new system, created thanks to funding provided through the support of the Legislature and our partners in Washington's dairy and cattle industries. The application that was developed allows our brand inspectors to collect the same inspection data they always have, but store it electronically on a

computer tablet, rather than jotting it down on a paper form.

WSDA's Kris Budde enters livestock
data into a computer tablet. 

This makes the information easier to store and easier to retrieve. Modernizing this data collection not only creates efficiencies within the program, but also enhances the department’s animal disease traceability efforts. It updates methods and processes by which livestock movement information is collected, stored, and easily made accessible to animal health officials. That would be critical during an animal disease outbreak.  

The representatives and board members from the Idaho's brand and agriculture departments joined us July 26 and 27 to watch the new system in action and take part in its live implementation during the scheduled sale. 

If you are at a public livestock market and see our staff using a computer tablet, feel free to take a look at the process they are following. It is an historic change for the agency and animal disease traceability in our state.