Bovine Emergency Response Plan
W
ho hasn’t had that moment, driving
on the expressway behind a truck
full of cattle, when they wondered, “What
would happen if that truck crashed?”
Around
Our State
The answer is now clearer thanks
to a team led by experts from WVU
Extension Service, WVU Davis College
of Agriculture, Natural Resources
and Design, and North Dakota State
University.
Matthew Jenks has
joined the West Virginia
University Davis College
of Agriculture, Natural
Resources
and Design
as director
of its
Division
of Plant
and Soil
Sciences.
Dave Workman, WVU Extension agent
in Hardy County, and Jerry Yates, manager
of the Davis College’s Reymann Memorial
Farm in Wardensville, have worked with
a national network of experts to create a
Bovine Emergency Response Plan (BERP).
When Workman and Yates announced
an early-February training session based
on the BERP plan at the Cattlemen’s
College of the National Cattleman’s
Beef Association, Workman’s e-mail
inbox exploded.
“We are
Matthew
thrilled
Jenks
with the
appointment of Dr. Jenks
to this position,” said
Daniel Robison, dean
of the Davis College.
“He is an outstanding
scholar and leader, having
risen through the
ranks at Purdue
University and
served in a
leadership role
for the USDA
Agriculture
Research
Service.”
The training session was announced on
a website for bovine veterinarians, and a
cascade of enthusiastic inquiries followed.
Interest in and demand for the plan has
been building steadily ever since.
According to Yates, the impetus for
the plan came from a colleague at North
Dakota State University, Lisa Pederson
with the Dickinson Research Extension
Center in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Pederson had dealt with an accident
with human fatalities, bringing into
sharp focus the need for well-trained
first responders.
“I’m honored
and excited to join the
faculty, staff, and students
in the Division of Plant
and Soil Sciences and
follow in the footsteps
of longtime director
Barton Baker,”
Jenks said.
ii / Spring 2014
More than 50 million head of domestic
and imported cattle and calves are
transported annually in the United
States. Nearly all of these cattle are
transported via semi-truck and trailer.
It’s estimated that there are 400,000
head of livestock on the road on any
given day. As the number of livestock
being transported has increased,
so has the number of accidents.
The Bovine Emergency Response
Plan provides a framework to address
accidents involving cattle transport
vehicles.
“The Bovine Emergency Response
Plan developed a framework for local
first responders and law enforcement
to more appropriately address accidents
involving cattle transport vehicles,”
Workman said.
The plan includes standardized
procedures, suggestions and materials
for dispatchers and first responders in
the areas of call assessment, scene arrival
and assessment, scene containment
and security, extraction and relocation
of cattle from the scene, and, when
necessary, euthanasia of injured animals.
The training sessions thus far have
drawn a cross-section of people –
law enforcement, firefighters, first
responders, veterinarians, and livestock
industry workers.
“We’ve worked with people from coast
to coast and border to border on this
project,” Yates said. “And we’ve found
that everybody has the same goal – to
make a safer situation for the public, the
emergency responders, and the animals.”
BERP development was funded by
the USDA and Beef Check-Off, which
contracts with the National Cattleman’s
Beef Association.
By David Welsh, Marketing and
Communications Director, Davis College of
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
Insert Provided by WVU Extension Service and Davis College of Ag., Natural Resources, and Design
14 West Virginia Farm Bureau News