The threat of emergencies has always existed in agriculture – everything from a severe weather event, to an animal disease outbreak, to accidents involving fire or machinery.

Beef producers have, intuitively and with direction from a multitude of agencies, generally prepared themselves well to deal with these infrequent but often dangerous situations.

Feedyards should have a written emergency action plan. It doesn’t have to be a set of complex documents – depending on the size of an operation; it could be as simple as filling out this form.

Some operations, especially the larger ones, may choose to add some additional information such as a site map/layout of the operation and a diagram that shows where equipment, controls, and potentially hazardous items such as medicines and chemicals are located.

A more comprehensive plan will include information about the buildings and areas of the farm where livestock are kept (and the purpose of that location, such as receiving or processing). This level of detail will be invaluable to emergency response teams should they be required to come to your site.