Life Sciences Commons^™

The Devil You Know And The Devil You Don’T: Current Status And Challenges Of Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication In The United States, Daniel J. O'Brien, Tyler C. Thacker, Liliana C.M. Salvador, Anthony G. Duffiney, Suelee Robbe‑Austerman, Mark S. Camacho, Jason E. Lombard, Mitchell V. Palmer

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Having entered into its second century, the eradication program for bovine tuberculosis (bTB, caused by Mycobacterium bovis) in the United States of America occupies a position both enviable and daunting. Excepting four counties in Michigan comprising only 6109 km2 (0.06% of US land area) classified as Modified Accredited, as of April 2022 the entire country was considered Accredited Free of bTB by the US Department of Agriculture for cattle and bison. On the surface, the now well-described circumstances of endemic bTB in Michigan, where white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) serve as a free-ranging wildlife maintenance host, may appear to be …

Livestock Producers' Perceptions Of The American Black Vulture Conflict In The Midwestern United States, Marian L. Wahl, Brooke Mcwherter, Patrick A. Zollner, Zhao Ma, Grant C. Burcham, Lee A. Humberg, Brian M. Kluever

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Human‐wildlife interactions are present wherever both humans and wildlife are found. Interactions can be positive or negative for humans and can include impacts that range from damage to property, agriculture, health and human safety, to emotional effects. Livestock‐wildlife interactions form a major component of human‐wildlife conflicts with foci often centered on the implications of livestock predation by wildlife. While most vulture species are obligate scavengers, several species, including the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus), may attack weak or newborn livestock. Black vulture populations and distributions are expanding in the Midwestern U.S., and attacks create a novel problem for …

Science‐Driven Guidelines Needed To Better Manage And Conserve Black Vultures In North America, Scott A. Rush, Neil J. Buckley, Patrick A. Zollner, Bryan M. Kluever, Brooke Mcwherter, Grant C. Burcham, Zhao Ma, Marian L. Wahl, Adrián Naveda‐Rodríguez

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Black vultures (Coragyps atratus) provide invaluable ecological services through disposal of carrion and the mobilization of energy within the landscape. Human‐wildlife conflicts with these birds have increased as populations have grown and the species distribution has expanded. We identify critical science needed to understand conflict between black vultures and humans to inform effective management of this species in North America. It is imperative that diagnostic criteria supporting the identification of the impacts of black vulture on livestock be standardized and verified. Management guidelines that take these criteria into account will enable reduction in the potential for black‐vulture‐farmer conflict …

Type And Frequency Of Wild Pig-Domestic Livestock Contacts And Operator Concern For Disease Spread, Sophie C. Mckee, Daniel F. Mooney, Ryan S. Miller

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) can levy substantial costs to domestic livestock operations and global supply chains due to disease introduction. Producers can take defensive action to avert these costs, but the factors influencing these decisions are not well understood. We examined survey data to characterize the type and frequency of contacts between wild pigs and domestic livestock and investigated the determinants of farm operator concern for disease introduction using an ordered logit model. We found that operators with livestock kept in buildings were more concerned about disease than those with livestock kept in fenced areas or that roam …

Spatial Risk Modeling Of Cattle Depredation By Black Vultures In The Midwestern United States, Brandon M. Quinby, Bryan M. Kluever, Grant N. Burcham, Lee Humberg, Landon R. Jones, Marian L. Wahl, Patrick A. Zollner

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

ock operations through depredation of stock are a cause of human‐wildlife conflict. Management of such conflict requires identifying environmental and non‐environmental factors specific to a wildlife species' biology and ecology that influence the potential for livestock depredation to occur. Identification of such factors can improve understanding of the conditions placing livestock at risk. Black vultures (Coragyps atratus) have expanded their historical range northward into the midwestern United States. Concomitantly, an increase in concern among agricultural producers regarding potential black vulture attacks on livestock has occurred. We estimated area with greater or lesser potential for depredation of domestic cattle by black …

Multidisciplinary Engagement For Fencing Research Informs Efficacy And Rancher-To-Researcher Knowledge Exchange, Matthew Hyde, Stewart W. Breck, Alex Few, Jared Beaver, Joshua Schrecengost, Jim Stone, Cameron Krebs, Russell Talmo, Kari Eneas, Rae Nickerson, Kyran E. Kunkel, Julie K. Young

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Across much of the Western United States, recovery of large carnivore populations is creating new challenges for livestock producers. Reducing the risks of sharing the landscape with recovering wildlife populations is critical to private working lands, which play an vital role in securing future energy, water, food, and fiber for an ever-expanding human population. Fencing is an important mitigation practice that many ranchers, land managers, and conservationists implement to reduce carnivore-livestock conflict. While fencing strategies have been reviewed in the literature, research seldom incorporates knowledge from the people who utilize fencing the most (i.e., livestock producers). Incorporating producers and practitioners …

Gray Wolves, Eric Gese, John P. Hart, Patricia Terletzky

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Wolf conflicts are primarily related to predation on livestock, pets and other domestic animals, as well as their direct and indirect impacts on native ungulates (i.e., big game). Economic losses vary widely with some livestock producers facing high levels of depredation in some areas. This publication focuses on wolf ecology, damage, and management, particularly as it relates to wolf depredation on livestock and other conflicts with people.

Wolves and people share the same environments more than people realize. In the U.S., wolves are not confined to wilderness areas. Though curious, wolves generally fear people and rarely pose a threat to …

Organic Production Of Livestock And Livestock Products In Nebraska, Elliott James Dennis

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

First paragraph:

USDA “Certified Organic” is a form of production that has received considerable public attention in the last 10 years, particularly among small, beginning and/or minority farmers. Spiking retail prices for red meat and poultry have seemingly accelerated consumer’s interest in organic locally produced products. Consumers demonstrate their desire for these products by paying premiums when purchasing meat products. Producers receive premiums by either directly marketing live animals to consumers that are custom harvested or marketing animals to meat wholesalers. The primary difference is the way premiums are captured. Producers doing custom harvesting capture the full premium whereas producers …

Coyotes, Rick Tischaefer

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

The coyote (Canis latrans; Figure 1) is a medium-sized member of the canid family. Once primarily found in western deserts and grasslands, coyotes have expanded their range across North America and into diverse habitats, including urban areas. This expansion occurred during a time of extensive habitat change and efforts by people to suppress coyote populations to prevent damage. Coyotes can cause a variety of conflicts related to agriculture, natural resources, property, and human health and safety. This document highlights a variety of methods for reducing those conflicts. Coyotes are a highly adaptable species and may become habituated to some management …

Vampire Bats: Preparing For Range Expansion Into The U.S., Michael J. Bodenchuk, David L. Bergman

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The common vampire bat apparently is expanding its range northwards in Mexico and seems poised to enter the southern United States. Climate models predict suitable habitat in the U.S. in south Texas and parts of southern Arizona. While vampire bats’ northward range expansion is not unexpected, the fact that this species brings a strain of rabies that impacts livestock and people warrants a strategic response. Annual economic damages from bats are estimated between $7M and $9M, largely associated with deaths of livestock from rabies. To prepare for the emerging rabies issue, USDA Wildlife Services programs in Texas and Arizona have …

Common Ravens, Luke W. Peebles, Jack O. Spencer Jr.

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

Damage Management Methods for Common Ravens

Type of Control -- Available Management Options

Exclusion -- Often ineffective or impractical

Fertility Control -- None available

Frightening Devices -- Effigies • Pyrotechnics and propane cannons • Lasers and flashing lights

Habitat Modification -- Bale and bury garbage • Install dumpsters with secure lids • Remove or bury dead livestock • Remove abandoned houses, sheds, and barns to eliminate nesting structures

Nest Treatment -- Allowed with proper Federal and State permits; Egg oiling or addling and nest destruction

Repellents -- Methiocarb (EPA Reg. No. 56228-33) • Methyl anthranilate (food-grade grape flavoring agent)

Shooting …

Black Bear, Jimmy D. Taylor, James P. Phillips

Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series

The American black bear (Ursus americanus, Figure 1) is a challenging species for wildlife agencies to manage due to its size, intelligence, extensive range, food habits, and adaptability, as well as societal views. In North America alone, agencies receive more than 40,000 complaints about black bear annually. Black bears are known as ‘food-driven’ animals, meaning most conflicts result from a bear’s drive to meet its nutritional needs. Not surprisingly, an overwhelming proportion of conflicts are related to their use of anthropogenic (human) food sources, such as garbage, bird food, and crops. Understanding what drives human-bear conflict is the first part …

Confronting Models With Data: The Challenges Of Estimating Disease Spillover, Paul C. Cross, Diann J. Prosser, Andrew M. Ramey, Ephraim M. Hanks, Kim M. Pepin

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

For pathogens known to transmit across host species, strategic investment in disease control requires knowledge about where and when spillover transmission is likely. One approach to estimating spillover is to directly correlate observed spillover events with covariates. An alternative is to mechanistically combine information on host density, distribution and pathogen prevalence to predict where and when spillover events are expected to occur. We use several case studies at the wildlife–livestock disease interface to highlight the challenges, and potential solutions, to estimating spatiotemporal variation in spillover risk. Datasets on multiple host species often do not align in space, time or resolution, …

Livestock Animals To Study Infertility In Women, Mohamed A. Abedal-Majed, Andrea S. Cupp

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

• Anovulation is a major cause of infertility in mammalian females.

• Ovarian research in humans is challenging due to the shortage of “normal tissue” that can be obtained from women that are trying to get pregnant.

• Livestock animals provide valuable resources to investigate the optimal intra-follicular environment required to facilitate folliculogenesis and translate to humans.

• Different livestock models may be more useful depending on the specific biological process studied.

Diseases At The Livestock–Wildlife Interface: Status, Challenges, And Opportunities In The United States, Ryan S. Miller, Mathew L. Farnsworth, Jennifer L. Malmberg

Other Publications in Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease

In the last half century, significant attention has been given to animal diseases; however, our understanding of disease processes and how to manage them at the livestock–wildlife interface remains limited. In this study, we conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature to evaluate the status of diseases at the livestock–wildlife interface in the United States. Specifically, the goals of the literature review were three fold: first to evaluate domestic animal diseases currently found in the United States where wildlife may play a role; second to identify critical issues faced in managing these diseases at the livestock–wildlife interface; and third …

Seroprevalence Of Brucellosis In Livestock Within Three Endemic Regions Of The Country Of Georgia, Eliso Mamisashvili, Ian T. Kracalik, Tinatin Onashvili, Lela Kerdzevadze, Ketevan Goginashvili, Tamar Tigilauri, Marina Donduashvili, Marina Nikolaishvili, Irma Beradze, Marina Zakareishvili, Maka Kokhreidze, Makvala Gelashvili, Nino Vepkhvadze, S. Elizabeth Rácz, Philip H. Elzer, Mikeljon P. Nikolich, Jason K. Blackburn

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty and Staff Publications

Brucellosis is the one of most common livestock zoonoses in Georgia, resulting in significant economic losses. Livestock were sampled in three regions of Georgia (Kakheti, Kvemo Kartli, Imereti). Districts that historically reported high numbers of brucellosis related morbidity were selected for serological, bacteriological and molecular surveys. Surveying efforts yielded samples from 10,819 large and small ruminants. In total, 735 serological tests were positive on Rose Bengal and 33 bacterial isolates were recovered and identified as Brucella melitensis or Brucella abortus by microbiology and AMOS-PCR. A Bayesian framework was implemented to estimate the true prevalence of the disease given an imperfect …

Emerging Near-Real Time Forage Monitoring Technology With Application To Large Herbivore Management In Mongolia, Dennis P. Sheehy, Jerry W. Stuth, Douglas E. Johnson, Jay Angerer, Douglas Tolleson

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Large herbivore livestock and wildlife in Mongolia depend almost entirely for substance on forage standing crop produced each year on natural pastureland. Consequently, both livestock and wildlife are continuously subject to environmental risk, especially drought and severe winter storms, while livestock are also subject to financial risk. As consumption-based livestock production changes to commercialized livestock production, steps taken by the livestock herder to avert both environmental and financial risk to livestock can increase environmental risk to large wild herbivores. A realistic and workable pastureland and risk management system will be critical for conservation of large herbivore habitat. New technologies are …

Identification Of Herder-Wild Equid Conflicts In The Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area In Sw Mongolia, Petra Kaczensky, N. Enkhsaihan, O. Ganbaatar, Christian Walzer

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

In protected areas of Mongolian overgrazing, competition with wild ungulates and poaching are important management concerns. The Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area (SPA) in SW Mongolia is a re-introduction site for the Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), a stronghold of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus), and remains an important grazing area for seminomadic herders. We show the power of simple inventory and monitoring methods to assess herder-wildlife conflicts, by combining data of: (1) human and livestock demographic data, (2) migration patterns, of semi-nomadic herders, (3) monthly surveys of wild- and domestic ungulates, and (4) …

Facts From A Year Of Drought: Forage Competition Between Livestock And The Mongolian Pika (Ochotona Pallasi) And Its Effects On Livestock Densities And Body Condition, Vroni Retzer

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Burrowing small mammals in grasslands have long been regarded as pests because they compete for forage with livestock and reduce the forage availability for livestock by destroying pastures through their intensive digging activity.

In order to investigate forage competition between the Mongolian Pika (Ochotona pallasi) and livestock an exclosure experiment consisting of four different treatments was set up. The treatments were: 1) accessible only for pikas, (only pika) 2) accessible only for livestock, (only livestock) 3) accessible for both herbivore groups (pika & livestock) and 4) no grazing (no grazing). During the investigation period all requirements for forage …

Assessing Factors That May Predispose Minnesota Farms To Wolf Depredations On Cattle, L. David Mech, Elizabeth K. Harper, Thomas J. Meier, William J. Paul

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Wolf (Canis lupus) depredations on livestock cause considerable conflict and expense in Minnesota. Furthermore, claims are made that such depredations are fostered by the type of animal husbandry practiced. Thus, we tried to detect factors that might predispose farms in Minnesota to wolf depredations. We compared results of interviews with 41 cattle farmers experiencing chronic cattle losses to wolves (chronic farms) with results from 41 nearby "matched" farms with no wolf losses to determine farm characteristics or husbandry practices that differed and that therefore might have affected wolf depredations. We also used a Geographic Information System (GIS) to …

Implications Of Cloning For Breed Improvement Strategies: Are Traditional Methods Of Animal Improvement Obsolete?, L. Dale Van Vleck

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Can the optimum animal be defined? Will that definition change over time, by location, by market demand? First, assume what may be impossible, that the perfect animal can be defined or that only a limited number of definitions of “perfect” are needed. Then, can the “perfect” animal to match a definition be found? Suppose such an animal is found. Then the question to be answered before trying to clone as a method of genetic improvement becomes “Is the animal perfect because of phenotype or genotype?” In other words, the P = G + E problem exists, which requires traditional methods …

Fifty Years Of Achievement In Agricultural Investigation, R. T. Prescott

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Circulars

In Nebraska, a hustling frontier state in 1887, the legislature hesitated not at all in taking advantage of the provisions of the Hatch Act, and now that fifty years have elapsed since the Station was founded, seventy-five years since the Land Grant College Act was passed and the U. S. Department of Agriculture established, and almost twenty-five years since the Agricultural Extension Service was added, it seems worth while to present a general summary of achievement within the state. The main object will be to show some of the important things that have been learned through the investigations of the …

The Abortion Problem In Farm Live Stock, L. Van Es

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Circulars

Successful animal husbandry is fundamentally dependent on the efficient reproduction and preservation of young stock. Not only are losses among the latter a prolific source of direct economic damage, but they also tend to create an equally serious disadvantage of a more indirect nature. Losses of young animals, unless a reduction of our live stock population can be tolerated, necessitate the setting aside of a larger number of females for purely reproductive purposes than would be required if such losses were not a factor.

Studies Of Immunity Against Hemorrhagic Septicemia, L. Van Es, H. M. Martin

Historical Research Bulletins of the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station

As one of the phases of our inquiry an effort was made to acquire some general knowledge regarding the immunizing value (1) of sera prepared with the aid of Bacillus bipolaris septicus procured from cattle and swine or (2) of those alleged to be of service in the control or treatment of hemorrhagic septicemia in the species mentioned. The experiments reported in this publication were almost exclusively made with sera purchased from dealers in biologic products.