1. Two New Colorado Equine Facilities Quarantined for Presumptive Vesicular Stomatitis
EDCC Health Watch
TheHorse.com
July 27, 2026
According to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), two new equine premises in Colorado, located in Archuleta and Montezuma counties, have presumptive cases of vesicular stomatitis (VSV). The facilities are under quarantine.
Since the start of the current outbreak, 37 VSV-affected equine premises (27 confirmed positive, 10 presumptive positive) have been identified in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. All confirmed cases have been vesicular stomatitis New Jersey virus (VSNJV) serotype.
2. USDA Offers Disaster Assistance to Agricultural Producers in Texas Impacted by Recent Flooding
USDA News Release
July 24, 2026
College Station, Texas - Agricultural operations in Texas have been significantly impacted by recent flooding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has technical and financial assistance available to help farmers and livestock producers recover from these adverse weather events.
"USDA has a suite of programs to support farmers and ranchers as they recover from disasters," said Farm Production and Conservation Under Secretary Richard Fordyce. "I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages."
USDA Disaster Assistance
Producers who experience livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality or sell injured livestock at a reduced price may be eligible for the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP). To participate in LIP, producers must provide acceptable documentation of death losses or evidence of reduced sales resulting from an eligible adverse event, including an adverse weather event, and submit a notice of loss to the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) no later than March 1, 2027, for 2026 calendar year losses.
Meanwhile, the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) provides eligible livestock producers with compensation for feed and grazing losses. For honeybees, ELAP may cover colony loss and damage to hives and purchased or produced feed. ELAP may also cover purchased or produced farm-raised fish feed losses for feed that was intended to be fed to eligible farm-raised fish along with any physical inventory loss of the eligible farm raised fish. For ELAP, producers are required to complete a notice of loss and submit an application for payment to their local FSA office no later than March 1, 2027, for 2026 calendar year losses.
3. Strangles Case Confirmed in Santa Rosa County, Florida
EDCC Health Watch
TheHorse.com
July 27, 2026
According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, one horse at a private facility in Santa Rosa County has tested positive for strangles. Four additional horses have been exposed.
This is Florida's 18th confirmed strangles case of 2026.
Full text: https://thehorse.com/1146205/strangles-case-confirmed-in-santa-rosa-county-florida/
4. Baja California Explores BCG Vaccine for Bovine Tuberculosis Control
DairyNewsToday.com
July 24, 2026
The Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development of Baja California (SADER BC) has initiated a collaborative research project with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to evaluate the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine's effectiveness in preventing and controlling bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) in dairy cattle. This binational effort aims to fortify animal health along the northern border.
Mónica Vargas Núñez, head of SADER BC, highlighted the ongoing challenge bovine tuberculosis poses to dairy farming due to its contagious nature and detrimental impact on cow productivity. The zoonotic nature of the disease, which can be transmitted to humans, makes it a strategic priority to control and reduce its prevalence in dairy units to protect both the sector's economy and public health.
The research seeks to provide solid scientific evidence on using the BCG vaccine to reduce transmission rates and disease burden within dairy herds. Evaluating the immune response of the vaccine under intensive production conditions will generate key data to optimize regional health strategies. This could lead to more efficient epidemiological control schemes complementing traditional tuberculin tests.
5. Study Targets Flesh-Eating Screwworm by Researching Foul Odor Detection
Bioengineer
July 26, 2026
Foul odors can be a cue to something much worse. CSU professor Jessica Metcalf is helping build smarter defenses against the New World screwworm, a blowfly whose larvae feed on living tissue and can cause severe disease in warm-blooded animals. Although the pest was eradicated from the United States more than half a century ago, it recently reappeared in Texas, raising urgent questions about how to detect and interrupt its spread.
Metcalf's project, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, targets the chemical signals that guide screwworms to their preferred sites: open wounds. When bacteria proliferate in damaged tissue, they release volatile compounds-small molecules that readily vaporize and travel through the air. To animals, the smell often signals infection. To the insect, those same cues indicate a successful location to lay eggs.
Her team is comparing screwworm-attracting "wound volatiles" against odors that lure a related species, the secondary screwworm. Current monitoring relies heavily on bait that mimics the chemistry of rotting meat, which unintentionally recruits the secondary screwworm. That bycatch can overwhelm traps and mask the harder-to-detect New World screwworm.
Full text: https://bioengineer.org/study-targets-flesh-eating-screwworm-by-researching-foul-odor-detection/
6. FFAR Grant to Maintain Productive Grazing Lands across the Great Plains
Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research Press Release
July 27, 2026
Arlington, VA (July 27, 2026) - The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and partners have awarded a $3.1 million grant to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and collaborators to help keep grasslands intact across the U.S. and Canadian Great Plains. Researchers are using the funding to develop practical solutions that help ranchers maintain thriving, working grasslands while slowing conversion to other uses.
TNC is collaborating with core research partners, including Colorado State University, Cornell University, Michigan State University, Nature United, the University of Alberta, the University of Wyoming and World Wildlife Fund. Researchers at South Dakota State University, the University of Nebraska, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Waterloo are also collaborating on this project.
Well-managed grasslands provide essential forage for livestock while also supporting wildlife habitat, storing carbon in soils and protecting clean water. However, these ecosystems are disappearing rapidly. Over the last decade, North America has lost more than 50 million acres of grassland, partially due to increased pressure to convert these ecosystems to farmland to meet rising demand for agricultural products.