Farm animals.
Do you know how to protect your farm animals from risks posed by natural disasters, including collapsed barns, freezing weather, flooding, dehydration, and electrocution?
Safeguard your animals, your property and your business by taking precautions now, no matter what the risks are in your area. Additional information and assistance can be provided by your veterinarian.
Information developed by Public Safety Canada in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Environment Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and the provinces and territories. See the Emergency Preparedness for Farm Animals brochure.
Step 1: Know the risks and get prepared
Plan to shelter in place
If you remain on your property during an emergency, you will need to decide whether to confine large animals in an available shelter or leave them outdoors.
Survey your property for the best location for animal sheltering. Ensure that your animals have access to high areas in case of flooding, as well as to food and clean water.
If your pasture area meets the following criteria, your livestock may be better off out in the pasture than being evacuated.
A safe pasture has:
- Native tree species only. Exotic trees uproot easily.
- No overhead power lines or poles.
- No debris or sources of blowing debris.
- No barbed wire fencing. Woven wire fencing is best.
- At least one acre (0.4 hectares) of open space. Livestock may not be able to avoid blowing debris in smaller spaces.
If your property does not meet these criteria, consider evacuating your animals, but only on the advice of your veterinarian or Emergency Management Creston staff.
Plan to evacuate
Familiarize all family members and employees with your evacuation plans.
Arrange in advance for a place to shelter your animals. Plan ahead and work within your community to establish safe shelters for farm animals such as fairgrounds or other farms.
Ensure that sufficient feed and medical supplies are available at the destination.
Be ready to leave as soon as an evacuation is ordered. In a slowly evolving emergency plan to evacuate at least 72 hours before anticipated landfall, especially if you will be hauling a high profile trailer such as a horse trailer. It may not be possible to evacuate heavy loads safely in high winds. Also, once the emergency hits roads may be restricted to emergency service vehicles and not open to traffic.
Set up safe transportation. You will need to have access to trucks, trailers, and other vehicles suitable for transporting each type of animal, along with experienced handlers and drivers. You may need access to a portable loading ramp to load, or unload, animals.
If animals are evacuated to a centralized location such as a fair grounds for shelter and will co-mingle with other animals of unknown health status try to:
- Make sure your animals have sufficient identification (e.g. ear tags or brands) to be able to tell them apart from others.
- Minimize the contact among animals from different premises.
- Protect feed and water from contact with wild animals and birds.
- Verify the health and vaccination status of animals which must be co-mingled.
- Handle any mortalities in a manner to minimize the possible spread of contagious diseases.
- Monitor the health and well being of the animals on a daily basis, whether sheltered in place or evacuated. Seek appropriate veterinary medical advice and services on suspicion of an animal disease problem.
- Accommodation will need to include milking equipment for dairy cows (as applicable). Milk may need to be stored separately from cows of other herds. Milk “pickup” companies should be notified where to pick up the milk.
Whether you evacuate or shelter in place, make sure that you have adequate and safe fencing or pens to separate and group animals appropriately.
When leaving the farm
Ensure that the electricity on the farm (typically on a power pole into the farm) is turned off. Contact FortisBC for assistance.
Step 2: Make an emergency plan
- Make an emergency plan to protect your property, your facilities, and your animals. Create a contact list of emergency telephone numbers, including your employees, neighbours, veterinarian, poison control, local animal shelter, animal care and control, transportation resources, and local volunteer organizations.
- Include an out of town contact person who is unlikely to be affected by the same emergency. Make sure all this information is written down, and that everyone on your farm and your contact person has a copy.
- Review, test, and update your emergency plan, supplies, and information regularly.
Step 3: Prepare a farm emergency kit
Make an emergency kit so you have emergency supplies in one location, and let everyone know where it is. Check and update contents regularly. Include the following items and personalize according to your needs:
- Current list of all animals, including their location and records of feeding, vaccinations, and tests. Make this information available at various locations on the farm.
- Supplies for temporary identification of your animals, such as plastic neckbands and permanent markers to label animals with your name, address, and telephone number.
- Basic first aid kit.
- Handling equipment such as halters, cages, blankets, and appropriate tools for each kind of animal.
- Include bolt-cutters to quickly free animals in an emergency.
- Water, feed, and buckets. Tools and supplies needed for sanitation.
- Emergency equipment such as a cell phone, flashlights, portable radios (with weather radio band) and/or weather radio, and batteries.
- Other safety and emergency items for your vehicles and trailers.
- Food, water, and emergency supplies for your family.
For more information on emergency response where animals are implicated in natural or human-induced disasters, visit the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association website.