Quarantine period: keeping new animals apart
A quarantine period is the time a newly bought animal spends apart from the home herd before it joins. SDSU Extension advises keeping new beef cattle isolated for at least 30 days, and preferably 60 days.
How long should new animals stay in quarantine?
Keep new arrivals apart for at least 30 days, and preferably 60 days, before they join the herd. The isolation pen should stop nose-to-nose contact and any contact through manure, water or feed shared with the home herd. Write down the herd they came from, the arrival date and any test results during isolation, so each animal joins the main herd with a clear health history.
Questions from the farm
Do animals from a herd I know still need quarantine?
Yes. Writing down the herd of origin, the arrival date and the quarantine days for every new animal, including those from a herd you know, keeps your biosecurity consistent.
How HerdMobile helps
Bring your animals, feed stocks and farm accounts together on your Android phone. HerdMobile keeps your daily work moving offline: record events, compare feed quantities and follow sales and payments in one place. Use your own feeds and herd information to prepare a ration, then keep a backup file under your control.
In HerdMobile, a new animal's arrival date, origin and health events go into its own history, so you see the day quarantine started and the day it joined the herd in one place.
