1. UC Davis wins USDA award to build early warning system for New World screwworm [edited]
System will include AI sentinel cameras, a handheld DNA test and a five-state wildlife surveillance network
Edited Press Release
Equus Magazine
November 4, 2026
According to a November 3 news release by Pranav Pandit, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has awarded UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine a two-year, $4.37 million award under its New World Screwworm Grand Challenge.
The project, "Smart Surveillance for Screwworm: Deploying Cutting-Edge Detection Technologies Across State Networks," began October 28, 2026. Led by Pandit, a veterinary epidemiologist, it will watch for screwworm in wildlife across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida. It will also feature outreach into northern Mexico.
Current surveillance focuses on livestock and ports of entry, leaving remote wildlife areas as a blind spot. In 2016, screwworm killed more than 13% of the endangered Key deer in the Florida Keys before it was detected. This project is designed to close that gap.
UC Davis leads the project with three partners. They are Conservation X Labs (Sentinel AI cameras and the NABIT device), EpiEcos and the Wildlife Neighbors Database Project. State wildlife agencies in all five corridor states are advising, along with state agriculture departments.
The team will build a layered early warning system with four parts:
Hotspot maps: Risk models combining climate, land use and animal host data to predict where screwworm is most likely to establish. These will guide surveillance and future sterile fly releases
AI "sentinel" cameras: About 100 smart cameras placed in high-risk wildlife corridors that recognize screwworm-like wounds and send real-time alerts
WildAlert and a handheld DNA test: Expansion of WildAlert, a UC Davis, WNDP and EpiEcos-led wildlife health alert system, into Texas and New Mexico. This will be paired with NABIT, a portable device that screens suspect cases in the field before federal lab confirmation
Education for Detection: Training for stakeholders including hunters, trappers, biologists and wildlife rehabilitators on spotting screwworm and reporting it quickly
2. New Mexico shifts to regional screwworm zones as cases increase
Source: New Mexico Department of Agriculture
KOAT.coom
November 4, 2026
New Mexico animal health officials say they have switched to regional New World screwworm-infested zone maps because detections have recently expanded in the southern part of the state.
Officials say expanding the infested zone will strengthen surveillance and help prevent the pest from spreading. The designation will not affect most residents day-to-day activities, but will help animal owners understand when additional inspections or movement requirements may apply to livestock, horses, pets, and other animals.
The new zone map encompasses all of Doña Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna and Otero counties, and portions of Catron, Chaves, and Sierra counties.
An infested zone, extending at least 12.4 miles around an affected location, is established to support surveillance and prevent the pest from spreading.
Five cases were confirmed over the weekend, including areas in Catron County and northern Otero County.
3. Texas A&M Study Lays Groundwork For Novel Blood-Cleaning Method In Goats
By Ye (Vivian) Chen
TA&M Press Release
November 3,2026
In 2025, the Texas A&M Collgege of Veterinary Medicine & Miomedical Sciences (VMBS) became one of the first programs in the country to oer a new, lifesaving
treatment called hemoperfusion in large animals.
After being successfully used to treat horses at Texas A&M, the blood-filtering procedure may also soon offer veterinarians a new way to treat poisoning and other life-threatening conditions in goats.
In the first study of its kind, published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research, VMBS researchers demonstrated that hemoperfusion can be safety performed in the species, suggesting the technique could expand treatment options for goats and lay the groundwork for future studies in sick animals.
Originally developed to treat severe COVID-19 cases and now commonly used in human medicine, hemoperfusion filters toxins directly from the bloodstream by circulating blood through a specialized cartridge before returning it to the body.
Full text: https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/press-releases/hemoperfusion-goats-blood-filtering-treatment/
4. Update: Genetic Sequencing Results for Washington Dairy Herd Detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
APHIS Stakeholder Registry
November 4, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- On October 8, 2026, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the first two detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in two dairy herds in Washington. On October 8, the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) completed whole genome sequencing and confirmed that the virus is H5N1 genotype B3.13. Analysis indicates that this detection is consistent with transmission of virus from Idaho to Washington likely through cattle movement.
Key Points
Most cases in U.S. dairy herds have resulted from live animal movements linked to the original spillover event that was detected in the Texas Panhandle in late 2023, involving the B3.13 genotype.
The Washington herds, detected after exhibiting clinical signs consistent with H5N1, is due to the B3.13 strain. At this time, surveillance is ongoing around the initial premises and throughout Washington.
Public Health and Food Safety
This detection does not pose a risk to consumer health or affect the safety of the commercial milk supply. Pasteurization effectively inactivates HPAI virus, and milk from affected animals is diverted or destroyed to prevent entry into the food supply. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to consider the risk to the public to be low.
The Importance of Biosecurity
USDA remains committed to working with state partners to monitor, investigate, and mitigate the spread of HPAI in livestock. The detection does not change USDA's HPAI eradication strategy. Biosecurity is still key to mitigating the risk of disease introduction or spread between premises.
5. USDA backs new beef processing facility in Texas Panhandle
By Julie Tomascik, Editor
Texas Farm Bureau
November 4, 2026
A new beef processing facility in the Texas Panhandle will give cattle producers another marketing option and create more than 200 jobs in the region.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a $24.6 million commercial loan backed by its Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program to support construction of a locally owned beef processing facility in Dimmitt.
The USDA-inspected facility is expected to process about 400 head of cattle per day and create 220 jobs with an average wage of $30 per hour.
The project was initiated by 36 local investors involved in raising cattle throughout the Texas Panhandle. The investors aim to provide an alternative to major national meatpacking companies and increase competition in the beef processing industry.
Full text: https://texasfarmbureau.org/usda-backs-new-beef-processing-facility-in-texas-panhandle/
6. Scientists define herd health management in new framework for farm veterinarians
Bioengineer
November 4, 2026
Veterinarians have advised livestock herds at the population level for decades, yet the field they practice has never had a settled definition. A narrative review published in Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica now proposes one, describing herd health management as a continuous, cyclic process of planning, implementing and evaluating decisions that aim to promote herd health, understood as normal biological function, including homeostasis and the absence of disease, among the animals populating a given farm, in order to achieve the producer's goals regarding productivity, animal health and externalities. The review, based on a search of Web of Science using the term "herd health" with no restriction on publication date, argues that the scientific literature uses herd health management and related terms inconsistently and that theoretical deliberations around its practice have been lacking.
The authors, Esben Østergaard Eriksen, Ken Steen Pedersen and Jens Peter Nielsen, trace the origins of the discipline to the intensification of livestock production in the decades after the Second World War. In Danish pig production, antimicrobial supplements in the diet, climate-controlled pens, enhanced biosecurity and better knowledge about feed paved the way for a noticeably lower age at which producers separated piglets from the sow; the common weaning age dropped from 7 to 10 weeks to approximately 4 weeks during the 1970s. This intensification introduced herd health management into pig production according to principles first developed in dairy production. The role of veterinarians shifted from single animal-oriented and treatment-oriented work to a population-level oriented and prevention-focused approach, a development reflected in the establishment of the European College of Bovine Health Management and the European College of Porcine Health Management in 2003 and 2004.