One year ago, Wyoming had a rare anthrax outbreak, killing dozens of cattle and one moose near Elk Mountain.
The biggest complaint from local ranchers was that the state didn’t act quickly enough to contain the disease. But slow disease response times could become the norm going forward because of federal cuts, according to the state veterinary team.
Wyoming hadn’t seen an anthrax outbreak in at least 50 years until dozens of cattle mysteriously died around Elk Mountain, leaving globs of black goo in their wake. A new state law set up an anthrax protocol, which recommends ranchers in that area vaccinate cattle for the disease. It also details how the state veterinarian will respond, including notifying partner agencies, investigating the disease and implementing a quarantine.
But State Veterinarian Hallie Hazel said federal cuts will likely make disease response time slower. It was part of her Wyoming Livestock Board agency update to lawmakers at an Aug. 28 meeting of the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands, and Water interim committee.
Hazel said her team tries to respond to a disease outbreak within six hours.
“Now, we're looking at a matter of days before we get there, which means that disease could spread significantly before we have a chance to be there,” she said.
Wyoming’s Livestock Board lost five employees this summer because of federal cuts that resulted in the reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Specifically, Hazel said the cuts were from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which are Wyoming’s “co-partner in the United States for animal health.”
Duties from the loss of the five jobs are mostly being absorbed by three remaining workers, but Hazel said, “something's going to give.”
Aside from disease response time, Hazel added that the cuts have hit her department’s education duties.
“Not only in the face of a disease outbreak, but for example, brucellosis prevention,” she said.
The bacterial disease can spread from elk and bison to cattle, causing livestock to abort their pregnancies and hurting ranchers’ bottom line. Typically, the state team will meet several times a season with ranchers in areas more prone to brucellosis transmission.
“Those meetings have decreased significantly because we simply don't have the time to go meet with those producers,” Hazel said.
That’s also trickled into slower response times to local veterinarians who have disease questions, whether that’s about anthrax, brucellosis or otherwise. The state team also has an outdated emergency response plan for animal health.
“One of our goals was to update that animal health emergency response plan,” Hazel said. “We don't have the personnel. We have no personnel that can respond to that update or the funding to update that response plan.”
Lawmakers questioned Hazel on what can be done to help. Her resounding answer was to fill those positions lost amid federal cuts. That would mean hiring veterinarians or animal health technicians.
“We do not have the budget to fill any of those positions,” Hazel said. “If we wanted to fill just one of those positions, we could not do it.”
The Wyoming Livestock Board operates on a biennium budget. In fiscal years 2023 to 2024, it received $4.7 million from the state general fund. Its biggest chunk of money was producer-generated from brand recordings and inspections, amounting to $11.7 million.
