Contact: Doug Thomas
(502) 564-4696 doug.thomas@kyagr.com

Frankfort, KY-Animal health issues have been in the news all year as disease has ravaged livestock herds in Great Britain and parts of mainland Europe. On Tuesday, May 22, state and federal officials will converge on Elizabethtown to educate farmers on steps they can take to prevent a similar outbreak in Kentucky.

About 300 people are expected for the meeting, which will be from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. EDT at the Pritchard Community Center.

"Kentucky is a leader in cattle and horses and also is very active in swine, sheep, poultry and goats," said Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith, who will open the session. "It is absolutely essential that we do everything we can to ensure the health of Kentucky livestock."

Three officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Dr. Roger Odenweller, Dr. Mike Pavlick, and Dr. Barry Meade - will give presentations on foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease), and West Nile virus and USDA's Regional Emergency Animal Disease Eradication Organization. Dr. Don Applegate, a professor at Morehead State University, will talk about his experience in working on the FMD outbreak in the United Kingdom.

Speakers for the afternoon session include W.R. Padgett, director of the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, and Paul Fay of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

For more information, or to register, contact Teresa Laudermilk at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture by phone at (502) 564-4696 or by e-mail at teresa.laudermilk@kyagr.com.

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