What can I do?

Simple steps for livestock, pets, wildlife, and people around animals.

Check wounds.
Reduce flies.
Wound-proof facilities.
Call early.

Daily wound scan

Inspect wounds, navels, ears, nose, genital area, and other openings. Watch for irritated behavior, drainage, foul odor, or visible larvae.

APHIS signs and reporting

Reduce fly pressure

Treat fly and tick pressure as a wound-prevention issue. Texas A&M AgriLife recommends discussing sprays, pour-ons, dips, ear tags, and pasture monitoring with your veterinarian.

Texas A&M AgriLife preparedness

Wound-proof facilities

Walk chutes, alleys, pens, trailers, gates, latches, feeders, and water points. Smooth or cover sharp edges, pinch points, broken boards, wire, and hardware that can scrape or tear hide.

Facility audit checklist

Call early

If a case is suspected, separate affected animals when practical, call a veterinarian, notify animal-health officials, and avoid moving animals until directed.

AgriLife legal update

Facility Check

Fix the places that cut hide.

Walk the pressure points before handling days. Mark sharp edges, broken boards, wire, gaps, and pinch points for repair.

Chutes and squeeze areas

Look for rough welds, pressure points, broken rubber, head-catch rub spots, protruding pins, and places animals hit when backing or lunging.

Pens, alleys, and crowd tubs

Inspect tight turns, splintered boards, pipe ends, manure slicks, exposed wire, and corners where animals pile up or scrape shoulders and hips.

Trailers and ramps

Check ramp cleats, floor rot, gate gaps, sharp thresholds, divider hardware, and places animals can catch legs or tear hide during loading.

Fences, gates, and latches

Find loose panels, wire tails, bent T-post clips, old barbed wire, hinge pinch points, nail heads, and latch hardware at animal height.

Water, feed, and mineral sites

Look at rub edges, loose tin, broken troughs, hay-ring burrs, feeder bolts, and muddy footing where cattle crowd daily.

Pasture objects and debris

Remove junk iron, low limbs, broken equipment, scrap wire, old panels, and storm debris before they become wound sources.