Ag drill teaches how to contain fatal cattle illness

New Mexico Agricultural Livestock Incident Response Team practiced an emergency scenario drill at Socorro County Fairgrounds, drawing in more than 80 participants in from all over New Mexico and Arizona.

The fictional scenario: An acute, highly fatal cattle illness has been reported in a local county and cases have also been confirmed in Arizona. Drill participants urgently need to determine why and how to contain the illness.

“Emergency response is really hands-on, and we can do what we call full-scale exercises, where you get your hands dirty, so to speak. They are doing all the paperwork and getting used to what’s required and documenting all their responses,” Jeff M. Witte, Director of New Mexico Department of Agriculture, said.

During the drill, veterinarians learn how to perform necropsy, specimen collection and specimen preparation techniques. The focus is on rapid containment and diagnosis in case of a possible outbreak, bioterrorism attack, or an unknown significant or suspicious livestock loss.

Witte emphasized the importance of multi-agency coordination and hands-on experience that the drill offers. He said at the end of the two-day drill, the participants receive evaluations and feedback on their performance.

For this drill, Witte was a controller, which means he directed the drill and oversaw the incident command team. He said if there was a real emergency, he would be part of the multi-agency coordinating group.

“ You can’t just show up and try to take care of it all, things are much too complex these days, so bringing in a multi-agency teams along with the industry and extension it creates a really unique opportunity that get these folks working together in a low pressure environment, so that when we have an emergency they are already used to working together,” Witte said.

He said Arizona started the program years ago, and they liked the concept so much that they brought it to New Mexico. He believes it’s important that New Mexico and Arizona work together because, in real life,” plant pests and animal diseases don’t respect state lines.”

The drill included the New Mexico Livestock Board, the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, representatives from the Navajo Nation, New Mexico Cattle growers, a USDA veterinarian, the New Mexico County Emergency Manager, tribal agents, customs border protection, veterinarians from New Mexico and Arizona, the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, County Extension officers, the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, and toxicologists.