Every e-mail we send to this list includes an opt-out button. You can opt in or out of this list at will as many times as you wish.
The Livestock Board now has a facebook page. The purpose of this page is to provide the interested public with a way to get immediate access to updates such as those that appear here. Simply visit our page and "Like" it, and when we post any updates affecting the livestock industry in New Mexico, you will receive these on your facebook feed. Click this link to visit us on facebook:
It is with a heavy heart that NMLB has to mark the passing of one of our longtime and highly valued inspectors David “Gene” Cessnun. Gene passed away on July 2, 2020. He was 84 years old. Gene was an extremely dedicated NMLB inspector for the past 15 years for district 12 in the southeast part of the state. Gene was a true cowboy through and through and he will be sorely missed by the NMLB family.
Please take time to read the obituary linked below.
On April 13, 2020, the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, confirmed a finding of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) infection (Indiana serotype) on an equine premises in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. A single horse on the index premises has met the case definition of infection with compatible clinical signs and virus isolation positive results. A second equine premises in Sierra County, New Mexico subsequently met confirmed VSV case definition with compatible clinical signs and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-positive results for VSV (Indiana serotype). This is the 2020 VSV index case for the United States and subsequent VSV case for New Mexico. ***UPDATE: Bernalillo, De Baca, and Grant counties have also confirmed cases for VSV***
The epidemiological investigations on both VSV-positive premises indicate that incursion of VSV-infected insect vectors is the likely source of infection in these herds. Biosecurity measures and vector mitigation have been instituted to reduce spread of the virus. For full NMLB press release, click here.
Please see the USDA APHIS Veterinary Services website to read the current situation report.
Additional resources:
**UPDATE 7/29/2020- Map of Affected Counties**: Click Here for Map
**UPDATE 6/1/2020- CALIFORNIA INTERSTATE MOVEMENT RESTRICTION**: California interstate movement restriction to protect CA rabbit population against RHDV. Click here to view California restrictions.
**UPDATE 5/18/2020- COUNTIES WITH CONFIRMED CASES**: Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease has now been confirmed in domestic rabbits in Bernalillo, Chaves, Cibola, Curry, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Otero, Roosevelt, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, and Valencia Counties.
**UPDATE 4/6/2020**: We have confirmation of RHDV type 2 in wild rabbits. We do appreciate the response, but we will not be testing any additional wild rabbits. Instead, we will focus on domestic rabbits.
For questions regarding wild rabbits, please contact New Mexico Game and Fish.
This viral disease of rabbit has been diagnosed in New Mexico. We are reporting on partial results from the USDA APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories and Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were positive for RHDV Type 2. Suspect cases have been reported from central and southern New Mexico, as well as cases of wild rabbit die offs throughout southern New Mexico.
Do not allow visitors in your rabbitry, fence out wild rabbits, and limit new animal introduction. Please see the attached information from USDA APHIS Veterinary Services.
See the document below, both in English and Spanish, for a discussion on how to minimize the risk of your horse getting and/or spreading the EHV-1 virus.