Feedyard Managers and Veterinarian Response to a Delphi Feedyard Biosecurity Survey

Abstract

Biosecurity is an important aspect of disease prevention in any agricultural production system. The beef feedyard is particularly vulnerable to disease introduction because of the large number of different cattle arriving from multiple sources. Additionally, the large concentration of animals makes a feedyard a likely target for bioterrorism from domestic or international terrorist groups. The economic losses that accompany the treatment or elimination of an infectious or toxic agent to a feedyard would be substantial. The purpose of this survey was to determine the importance of different aspects of biosecurity in feedyards utilizing a Delphi survey.