Staying in the know about livestock industry

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — With spring right around the corner and new livestock being born or brought into an operation, it’s important for individuals in the livestock industry to stay up-to-date on what’s going on in the different livestock sectors.

Bret Marsh, the state veterinarian for the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, said the dairy industry is still very productive and BOAH works closely with dairy operations throughout Indiana. There are 782 Grade A dairy farms that are inspected by BOAH regularly, he said.

Even during COVID-19, Marsh said BOAH worked with dairy producers to find different markets so no milk in the state was wasted or dumped down the drain.

When it comes to the swine sector, Marsh said BOAH is continuing to monitor the situation with African swine fever overseas.

Indiana is a major pork producing state, which is why BOAH participates in several discussions about being able to be prepared and ready if African swine fever ever makes it to the United States, he said.

As far as the Hoosier sheep and goat industries are concerned, Marsh said BOAH and its veterinarians continue with the scrapie eradication program.

Marsh said the nation is making good progress in trying to be declared scrapie free, which can be achieved by having no scrapie cases in the country for seven years.

“We are making good progress and numbers are down,” Marsh said, adding BOAH is still offering scrapie tags and can help producers get them.

This story has been updated to correct the inaccurate reference to “African swine influenza” instead of African swine fever. AgriNews, which strives for accuracy, regrets the error.