From Waste to Worth; Creating an educational opportunity from a disaster – Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community

Purpose

North Dakota was impacted by the 2022 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak. Responders to the HPAI outbreak included the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), North Dakota State University (NDSU) Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, NDSU Extension, county emergency managers and veterinarians. Many responders were new employees and were not involved in response efforts during the 2015 HPAI outbreak, including 62% of county Extension agents. The lack of experience and knowledge resulted in a significant amount of time and effort spent determining the appropriate agencies to contact, defining agency roles, developing educational resources, and creating an awareness of biosecurity and procedures used in active cases. Additionally, limited attention was given to stress management or mental health and well-being during this period of heightened stress for personnel involved in response.

What Did We Do?

NDSU Extension received a 2023 USDA APHIS National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program grant to train professionals on how to safely respond to an animal disease outbreak or mass livestock mortalities. Training topics included:

- An overview of animal diseases
- Continuity of business planning
- Personal protective equipment and decontamination
- Incident command systems, local response roles and impact assessment
- Humane endings
- Carcass disposal site selection and methods
- Stress management and responding to stressed people
- Effective communication in high stress situations
- A response simulation exercise.

The curriculum was developed over a 5-month period and was previewed by 25 attendees during the North Dakota Veterinary Medical Association’s Annual Winter Conference. A total of 11 attendees responded to a survey of which 100% agreed the training increased their confidence in responding to a foreign animal disease (FAD), while 91% indicated the materials presented were appropriate for those responding to an animal disease outbreak at the local level. All topic areas were rated as either moderately useful or very useful. Suggested improvements to the curriculum were made over the next 4 months until the first full training.

The one and a half day training events were held in person at the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center (CREC) in June and September 2024. The training format included classroom, group work, demonstrations and hands-on activities. Each participant received a kit which contained personal protective equipment. A table-top exercise at the end of the training tied in all topics presented and provided time for groups to share experiences with response efforts.

Participants of the Emergency Response Preparedness for Foreign Animal Diseases and Mass Livestock Mortalities in North Dakota training viewed a non-disease mortality compost site. NDSU photo.

Emergency Response Preparedness for Foreign Animal Diseases and Mass Livestock Mortalities in North Dakota training participants practice donning PPE during hands-on portion of training. NDSU photo.

Participants of the Emergency Response Preparedness for Foreign Animal Diseases and Mass Livestock Mortalities in North Dakota training received Glo-Germ on their gloves as they exited the people movers to doff PPE. They rubbed it on their hands and then up and down their PPE. The Glo-Germ was used as a tool to aid in visual “contamination”. A black light was used after doffing was complete to spot any signs of “contamination”. NDSU photo. The NDSU Extension does not endorse commercial products or companies even though reference may be made to tradenames, trademarks or service names.

What Have We Learned?

In post-event evaluations of training participants, all respondents (57) indicated that the training increased their confidence and ability in responding to an animal disease or mass livestock mortality event. Additionally, 96% of respondents indicated they planned to make changes to be better prepared and better able to respond to animal diseases or mass livestock mortalities because of their participation in the training. Responses also indicated 93% improved their ability to provide support to individuals in high stress situations.

Post-training evaluation respondent comments included:

- “One of the best trainings I’ve ever attended. Please make sure new ANR [agriculture and natural resources] agents attend this in the future.
- “This was a great training and appreciate all the work put into it! It was good to understand the chain of command and know that many other offices would be working with a producer in a situation involving a FAD.”
- “I appreciated the number of different professions represented at this meeting and their unique perspectives for this type of emergency response.”
- “It was a great learning experience. The information was very useful and will be put to use if an event occurs. We EM’s [emergency managers] don’t normally deal directly with the emotional responses but we are resources for finding avenues for emotional support, which is great to know that there are people to reach out to in the animal industry. Overall, it was great to network with others and have more tools in the toolbox for when the situation occurs. GREAT JOB to everyone involved!!”

Six-month follow-up evaluation data from the first training session indicated that 91% of respondents (12) felt their community is better prepared for and able to respond to an animal disease or mass livestock mortality. Of these respondents, 45% took action to be more prepared for an animal disease or mass livestock mortality. Additionally, the training was successful in building relationships between responders in the state with 55% collaborating with individuals they connected with at the training to better prepare their communities to respond to an animal disease or mass livestock mortality. The six-month follow-up evaluation for the second training session will be administered in March 2025 and these proceedings will be updated with the information.

As part of the six-month evaluation, respondents were asked if they had taken actions to prepare for an animal disease or mass livestock mortality. Comments to date included:

- “Put together a list of resources, working on a response plan, informed stakeholders on the process and procedures involved.”
- “Monitoring of animal diseases in state and working with local producers and County Extension Agent.”
- “I have been more diligent about collecting names of producers or contacts needed if any outbreak would occur.”

Future Plans

Based on feedback from participants, an online discussion and a one-day table-top training are being planned. A follow-up one-hour online discussion session for all training participants will occur in February 2025. A day-long tabletop training is being planned for September 2025. This training will be for Extension agents and emergency managers. The goal of this training is to continue to increase preparedness and response capacity at the local level through the development of skills and relationships.

Authors

Presenting & corresponding author

Mary A. Keena, Extension Specialist, North Dakota State University, mary.keena@ndsu.edu

Additional authors

Miranda Meehan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Livestock Environmental Stewardship Specialist and Disaster Education Coordinator, North Dakota State University; Carolyn Hammer, DVM, Ph.D., Professor, Associate Dean of College of Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources, North Dakota State University; Heidi Pecoraro, DVM, Ph.D., DACVP, Director, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, North Dakota State University; Sean Brotherson, Ph.D., Professor and Family Science Specialist, North Dakota State University; Ethan Andress, DVM, State Veterinarian, ND Department of Agriculture; Jodi Bruns, M. Ed., Leadership and Civic Engagement Specialist, North Dakota State University; Adriana Drusini, Extension Program Coordinator, Farm and Ranch Stress, North Dakota State University; Marty Haroldson, Program Manager, Division of Water Quality, ND Department of Environmental Quality; Angela Johnson, Farm and Ranch Safety Coordinator, North Dakota State University; Margo Kunz, DVM, Assistant State Veterinarian, ND Department of Agriculture; Julianne Racine, Extension Agent, Agriculture and Natural Resources, LaMoure County, North Dakota State University; Karl Rockeman, P.E., Director, Division of Water Quality, ND Department of Environmental Quality; Jan Stankiewicz, MS, MPH cert., Community Health and Nutrition Specialist & Tribal Liaison, North Dakota State University; Rachel Strommen, Environmental Scientist, ND Department of Environmental Quality; and Kent Theurer, Emergency Management Specialist, ND Department of Agriculture.

Additional Information

Twenty-one new Extension publications in either English or Spanish will be created from this project. Completed to-date include:

Acknowledgements

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program funded this project. Project ID: ND01.22.

Special thank you to our support staff members, Myrna Friedt, Linda Schuster, Stephanie Sculthorp-Skrei and Lynne Voglewede as well as the NDSU Agriculture Communications department for all of the time and effort you put into these trainings and materials.

The authors are solely responsible for the content of these proceedings. The technical information does not necessarily reflect the official position of the sponsoring agencies or institutions represented by planning committee members, and inclusion and distribution herein does not constitute an endorsement of views expressed by the same. Printed materials included herein are not refereed publications. Citations should appear as follows. EXAMPLE: Authors. 2025. Title of presentation. Waste to Worth. Boise, ID. April 7-11, 2025. URL of this page. Accessed on: today’s date.