Contagious animal diseases like foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) are often referred to as economic diseases because of the magnitude of economic harm they can cause to producers and to local communities. This study demonstrates the local economic impact of a hypothetical FMD outbreak in southwest Kansas, an area with high density of cattle feeding. The expected (most probable) economic impact of the disease hinges heavily on where the incidence of the disease occurs. If the disease were to occur in a cow-calf herd in the region economic impact is expected to be relatively small compared to if it were introduced simultaneously in five large feedlots in southwest Kansas. Disease surveillance, management strategies, mitigation investment, and overall diligence clearly need to be much greater in concentrated cattle feeding and processing areas at the large feeding operations in the region.2

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a common endemic disease among North American feedlot cattle. BRD can lead to significant economic losses for individual beef cattle feedlot producers through mortality and morbidity. With promising new management and technology research that could reduce BRD prevalence, this study evaluates the potential impacts of a reduction of BRD in the US beef cattle feedlot sector. Using a multi-market, multi-commodity partial equilibrium economic model of the US agricultural industry, we evaluate the market impacts of reduced BRD to producers from various livestock, meat, and feedstuffs industries. We find that as morbidity and mortality is reduced, beef cattle producers experience losses due to increased supplies (lower beef cattle prices) and increased demand for feedstuff (higher feedstuff prices). Beef cattle processors see gains as the price of beef cattle is lower, whereas feedstuff producers gain from higher feedstuff prices. Producers in the allied industries (pork, lamb, poultry, and eggs) see a small reduction in returns as consumers substitute with less expensive beef products. Consumers see gains in welfare as the increase in beef cattle supply results in lower beef prices. These lower beef prices more than offset the small increases in pork, lamb, poultry, and egg prices. Overall, the potential economic welfare change due to management and technologies that reduce BRD is a net gain for the US society as a whole.

Animal identification by means of marking animals' bodies was first recorded 3,800 yr ago in the Code of Hammurabi, and throughout history, valuable animals such as horses have been identified to prevent thievery all over the world. Today, the reasons for identification of livestock include production management, control of disease outbreaks, establishment of ownership, requirements for export, and consumer demands. Additionally, there are many methods of animal identification and traceability available today including ear tags, tattooing, branding, electronic methods that implement radio frequency identification technologies (such as rumen boluses, ear tags, and injectable transponders), and biometric methods (such as retinal scanning, nose prints, and DNA). The objective of this review is to demonstrate the implementation of bovine animal identification and traceability systems in selected countries outside of North America (i.e., United States, Canada, and Mexico) for the purpose of creating a knowledge base whereby an effective North American bovine animal identification and traceability system may be created and implemented. This review will discuss regulatory requirements of animal identification and traceability in selected countries.

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This study examines the market reactions by investors of Korean agribusiness companies following five foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks using an event study analysis. The results suggest that the FMD outbreaks caused the stock market to react in both a negative and positive manner to allied companies. The results also suggest that the market reactions were more gradual than instantaneous to the FMD outbreaks. Furthermore, the FMD outbreaks appear to have increased the volatility of the daily returns with the smaller companies facing the largest changes in volatility.