title: Direct and indirect contact rates among livestock operations in Colorado and Kansas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize direct and indirect contacts among livestock operations in Colorado and Kansas.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional quarterly survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  532 livestock producers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Livestock producers in Colorado and Kansas were recruited by various means to participate in the survey, which was sent out via email or postal mail once quarterly (in March, June, September, and December) throughout 2011. Data were entered into an electronic record, and descriptive statistics were summarized.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Large swine operations moving animals to other large swine operations had the highest outgoing direct contact rates (range, 5.9 to 24.53/quarter), followed by dairy operations moving cattle to auction or other dairy operations (range, 2.6 to 10.34/quarter). Incoming direct contact rates for most quarters were highest for large feedlots (range, 0 to 11.56/quarter) and dairies (range, 3.90 to 5.78/quarter). For large feedlots, mean total indirect contacts through feed trucks, livestock haulers, and manure haulers each exceeded 725 for the year. Dairy operations had a mean of 434.25 indirect contacts from milk trucks and 282.25 from manure haulers for the year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High direct contact rates detected among large swine operations may suggest a risk for direct disease transmission within the integrated swine system. Indirect contacts as well as incoming direct contacts may put large feedlots at substantial risk for disease introduction. These data can be useful for establishing and evaluating policy and biosecurity guidelines for livestock producers in the central United States. The results may be used to inform efforts to model transmission and control of infectious diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease in this region.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66502.
authors.forename: Sara W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: McReynolds
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Sanderson
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.forename: Marna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.forename: Ashley E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Mo D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Salman
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003120:Colorado; D003612:Dairying; D003625:Data Collection; D007615:Kansas; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013552:Swine; D014186:Transportation