State Veterinarian Announces Implementation Of New Requirements For Livestock Entering Virginia

According to Dr. Richard Wilkes, State Veterinarian with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), effective August 15, 2012, breeding-age cattle coming into Virginia from other states must be tuberculosis (TB) test negative and properly identified. Imported cattle over 18 months of age without negative TB test results and proper identification will be quarantined until negative TB tests are conducted and official identification have been applied to each animal and submitted to the VDACS’ regional Office of Veterinary Services (OVS). Acceptable TB tests include individual animal testing within 60 days prior to entering Virginia, or an annual whole herd test for cattle originating from TB accredited herds.

On January 18, 2012, updated regulations regarding the health requirements for importing animals into Virginia became effective. Bovine tuberculosis (TB) testing on cattle that do not originate from a TB accredited free herd, as well as official individual identification, are now required on all cattle greater than 18 months of age coming into Virginia. Between January and now, VDACS has been educating cattle producers who import breeding-age cattle of the requirement for a TB test and official identification.

Once the most prevalent infectious disease of cattle and swine in the United States, bovine TB caused more losses among U.S. farm animals in the early part of the 20th century than all other infectious diseases combined. Since 1917, cooperative efforts of the states and USDA have nearly eradicated bovine TB from the nation’s livestock population. This disease’s presence in humans has been reduced as a result of the eradication program, advances in sanitation and hygiene, the discovery of effective drugs and pasteurization of milk.

Although bovine TB has been nearly eradicated, it is at this stage that surveillance and identification of infected cattle becomes most difficult. Within the last several years, TB has been newly diagnosed in at least ten states that were previously considered to be free. In order to continue to keep the disease out of Virginia’s livestock, reliable identification and assurance that imported cattle are TB-negative are essential. It is critical that potentially infected animals from out-of-state be permanently identified so that they will not jeopardize Virginia’s ability to market animals as coming from a TB-free state.
For additional information on the animal import regulations, see vdacs.virginia.gov/animals/adm-cattle.shtml

Community Animal Response Teams Keep Animals Safe During Emergencies

Lindsay Reames
Assistant Director
Governmental Relations

Last Friday I attended a very informative meeting about CARTs- Community Animal Response Teams.

Research has shown that the No. 1 reason people refuse to evacuate their homes during an emergency is because they don’t want to leave pets behind. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd claimed the lives of millions of animals in North Carolina and thousands were separated from their owners. Many of the animals could have been saved by a coordinated response plan.

Out of this tragedy grew the CART concept. Virginia adopted the concept in 2006 to address the needs of animals during natural or man-made disasters.

VASART-- the Virginia State Animal Response Team to—was formed to address the needs of animals during natural or man-made disasters. VASART was created through a private-public partnership to serve as a unifying network of organizations, businesses, federal and state government agencies and individuals that support the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery for emergencies affecting animals. Tony Banks, assistant director of Farm Bureau’s Commodities and Marketing Department, is co-chair of VASART.

The group is working to increase CARTs in the state. There are currently eight groups in Virginia, but that’s more than other states have. As part of the animal response teams, trained volunteers will help people find shelter for their pets. Campbell County may be the next locality to form a community response team.

The state and county groups are primarily focused on companion animals but are starting to put more emphasis on large livestock animals.

Animal agriculture advocates address public image challenges

Lindasy Reames
Assistant Director
VFB Governmental Relations

I attended the Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit this past week in Arlington. The summit brought together around 200 agriculture leaders to address issues facing animal agriculture. This year the focus was on transparency in the industry and finding ways to show the general public and media what farmers do on their operations. It is a challenge to balance the needs of bio security and private property while opening up farms for tours and education. Below is an article done by agri-pulse on the conference.

Animal agriculture advocates address public image challenges

by Sarah Gonzalez

 Transparency and outreach are essential for animal agriculture to close the “communication gap” that exists between the industry and the general public, according to several speakers at the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s 11th annual Stakeholder Summit this week. Nearly two hundred animal agriculture representatives attended the summit in Arlington, Va., where Indiana Pork Executive Director Mike Platt described his organization’s approach to the communication problem.

Platt is president of the Fair Oaks Farms’ new “Pig Adventure” organizing board, which is implementing a 2,600 sow operation to be open for public tours. With a “Disney-like” engagement for its customers, Platt said the “Pig Adventure” will convey the main messages that pork farming is compatible with the environment, pork producers care about their animals and that pork is healthy. He said Fair Oaks Farms expects its first visitors to the sow operation by next year’s Memorial Day, which will be an addition to its existing dairy operation with similar public tours.

Farm Bureau has 34 successes at General Assembly

Martha Moore
Vice President, Governmental Relations

As the General Assembly concluded without a budget, Farm Bureau policy positions prevailed on 34 out of 40 issues. This number will change once we know the outcome on the state budget.

A big thank you goes out to those of you who made legislative contacts when we asked you as well as those of you who participated in Legislative Day. We can't emphasize enough how crucial it is for legislators to hear the issues and how they affect agriculture straight from Virginia farmers like you. Your contacts made all the difference this year, and we can attribute our success to you.

If you are a producer member and would like to receive our action alerts, please email Kelly.Pruitt@vafb.com.

Below are some highlights from this year's session:

Animal Care

• Successful in defeating all legislation that place arbitrary and unscientific animal husbandry practice restrictions on farmers and prevented giving human rights to animals

Game Laws

• Made coyotes and feral hogs nuisance species so that this would allow some permanency beyond regulations for an open season on these nuisance species

• Defeated all bills that would have allowed Sunday hunting

Property Rights

• Passed a resolution placing a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in November 2012 to permanently protect property owners from eminent domain takings for private benefit

• Ensured that landowners are fairly compensated for factors that impact the fair market value as “lost profits” and “lost access”

Please stay tuned on this issue as we are working on developing a statewide campaign on getting the ballot initiative passed. Look for more information on how your county Farm Bureau can help ensure that are successful in a major final piece of achieving our policy position on protecting your property rights from eminent domain abuse.

Virginia Cooperative Extension/ Agriculture Experiment Station

• Passed a commending resolution on the Agriculture Experiment Station’s 125th Anniversary to highlight the programs that have helped support farm profitability

Animal Care Update: Virginia Farm Bureau pleased with horse processing legislation

Hello everyone! My name is Lindsay Reames, and animal care is one of the issues I cover for Virginia Farm Bureau.

Many Virginia farmers were pleased with recent legislation that eliminates a major hurdle for horse processing. H.R. 2112, contained in the 2012 federal appropriations bill, was signed into law by President Obama in late November.

In 2009, a law passed prohibiting the funding of a USDA inspector at horse processing plants, essentially shutting down horse processing plants. That law ended humane horse processing in this country, causing many horses to endure long trips to slaughter plants in Canada or Mexico. A recent Government Accounting Office Report confirmed that many horses were being neglected and abandoned because of the shuttering of U.S. plants. Horse rescues were getting full and unable to care of additional animals.

During the two-year funding void, there was little or no option for horse owners. The economic downturn resulted in many horses being abandoned or left with owners who could no longer afford to care for them.

Virginia farmers take excellent care of their livestock, including their horses. Without any domestic horse processing facilities, many horses needlessly suffered. By passing H.R. 2112, horse owners will be able to humanely dispose of their animals.

VFBF News Lead: Animal control officers get training on ag animal care

*News Leads are the weekly top agriculture stories written by Farm Bureau's Communications Department and sent to local newspapers and TV stations around the state as a news release. This story was released on Oct. 20.



Photo by USDA

RICHMOND—Virginia animal control officers are receiving training on agriculture animal care standards that were approved by the 2011 General Assembly.

“We want them to know how to enforce the new animal care standards law,” said Dr. Daniel Kovich, program manager for the Office of Animal Care and Health Policy within the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Since the legislation passed in April, Kovich has been meeting with animal control officers so they are aware of the new law, know how to apply it, and understand how to educate the public about animal welfare.