The Oklahoma Cow-Calf Biosecurity Survey was implemented in early 2022 to gain insight into biosecurity practices on Oklahoma cow-calf operations. The survey was administered for Oklahoma State University (OSU) through USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and garnered over 1,400 producer responses.
The overarching goal of the survey is to find ways to increase producer awareness of biosecurity issues and to assist producers in planning and implementation of best practices with respect to biosecurity on their individual operations.
One constant for cattlemen is considering the potential threat and impact of infectious diseases. A segment of the survey asks producers to rate the threat level of bovine respiratory disease (BRD), commonly known as shipping fever or pneumonia, and the threat level from persistently infected (PI) bovine viral diarrhea (BVD-PI) cattle, recognizing that BVD is part of the larger BRD disease complex.
BVD-PI animals can be a problem for producers because they are BVD carriers that constantly shed the virus, creating consistent viral exposure to other members of the herd. The survey asks producers to rate the threat of these diseases to their own operations due to arrival of cattle from outside sources, and the beef industry overall. Those results are reported in Figure 1.
When asked whether BRD is a threat to the industry, 58% of producers perceive that it is a threat to the industry. Only 19% of producers state that they do not believe it is a threat, while 23% are not sure whether it is a threat. In contrast, only 34% believe that BRD is a threat to their own operation, but 48%—nearly half of producers responding—believed that BRD is not a threat to their own operation.
Producer evaluation of the perceived threat from BVD-PI cattle is similar. Half of survey respondents believe that persistently infected BVD-PI cattle are a threat to the industry, with 25% responding that it is not a threat to the industry. However, when asked whether BVD-PI cattle are a threat to their own operation, only 33% say that it is a threat and nearly half (46%) say that it is not.
In both scenarios, only a small percentage of producers are unsure of the threat to the operation or are unfamiliar with the disease. Interestingly, for both BRD and BVD-PI, producers perceive that the threat of disease is a greater threat to the industry than it is to their own cattle operations.
There may be multiple reasons that cattlemen perceive a greater threat of disease to the industry than to their own cattle. On the one hand, producers may have biosecurity elements in place that they feel are sufficient protection against BRD and BVD for their cattle and operation. Quarantines for incoming cattle, a closed herd and vaccinations for the herd and calves are all elements that can protect against disease.
On the other hand, some cattlemen may simply have unrealistic perceptions of disease threats. So how do we sort that out? For example, are perceived threats greater or smaller based on herd size? How does the number of biosecurity practices already in place impact perceptions of disease threat? Stay tuned! But as you wait for more information on the topic, consider your own perceptions about disease threats and what it is that informs your decisions regarding biosecurity on your operation.— Kellie Curry Raper and Amy Hagerman, OSU Department of Agricultural Economics
