Livestock Industry Requests FMD Vaccines

Livestock Industry Requests FMD Vaccines

Livestock Groups urged farm bill writers to fund a Foot-and-Mouth Disease vaccine bank in the next farm bill.

Beef, pork, and sheep groups urged the House Ag subcommittee to avert possible billions in losses to industry by investing now in an FMD vaccine bank. National Pork Producers' Council Vice-President David Herring called it his group's top farm bill priority

Herring: "If this country ever had a FMD outbreak it could not only devastate my farm and the whole livestock industry but the entire U.S. economy. The Iowa State University study estimated that an outbreak — which would immediately shut off our meat exports — would costs the U.S. beef, pork corn and soybean sectors $200 billion in over ten years."

 

Pork Producers wants USDA to contract for an offshore vaccine bank that would provide 40-million doses. National Cattlemen Beef Association are asking for $150-million a year for five years, for a better vaccine bank as NCBA President Craig Uden explains

Uden: "We believe a strong animal health program — including a vaccine bank — is vital to be funded. We are asking for $150 million for five years to develop a vaccine not in this country but to have the vaccine ready to go in case we ever did have that kind of outbreak. Think the thing that is complicated with FMD is that there are 23 strains and none of that vaccine can be kept on our soil or developed on our soil. It is a very complex issue."

Previous ReportAre You 70 and Half Years Old?
Next ReportRegional Weekly Hay Report