Livestock Trailer Accidents:

Join Dr. Jeanne Rankin on Saturday, January 17, 2015 at 8:30 am as she covers "Dealing with accidents involving livestock."

What are the options in humanely treating, removing and securing the animals involved with the least risk to responders and the public? What are my liabilities? What if Canadian livestock are involved, do I have to treat them differently? Who do I need to call?

Come and learn some basic guidelines for responding to various types of livestock accidents and what can make a safer, more efficient response for all involved. Tailor the guidelines for your county, roads, type of traffic and emergency responders.

A Montana version of the Bovine Emergency Response Plan by NDSU, et.al will be utilized as a guiding document for county response to livestock trailer accidents. "Over fifty million head of domestic and imported cattle and calves are marketed and transported for breeding, feeding, and slaughter in the United States each year. An estimated 400,000 head of livestock are on the road on any given day in the United States. As the number of livestock being transported via motor vehicle has increased, so has the number of accidents involving livestock. Currently in the United States, standard operating procedures for addressing accidents involving the transport of livestock do not exist."

Dr. Jeanne Rankin is mixed animal veterinarian with 17 years of private practice experience, 6 years in the Montana state veterinarians' office and 3 years as the MSU Extension Agro-Emergency Projects Coordinator. She is a third generation Montanan from the Sweetgrass Hills in Toole County graduating from MSU and Colorado State University and has developed a farm bio-security program called "Farm First and Healthy Herds™" aimed at teaching producers how to minimize the risks and impacts of livestock diseases in their own operations. She currently raises registered Gelbvieh cattle and quarter horses near Raynesford, MT.

Educating producers and county planners to create plans for livestock disaster, emergency and foreign animal disease is Dr. Rankin's passion. She can be reached at [email protected] and 406-738-4220.