Biosecurity and Health Checklists

Download: Texas Dairy Industry Crisis Management Plan Template

We are not hosting a template, and we will not pretend we are. Instead, here is an outline you can copy into your own document and fill in, so your farm has a plan before it needs one.

What is a crisis management plan?

A crisis management plan describes who does what when something serious happens on the farm. Communication is part of it, but so are safety, animal care, continuity of milking and recovery. It should be short enough to read in a hurry.

Think of it as a few pages in a binder by the office phone, plus a copy online. If you can picture the plan being used at midnight with the power out, you are on the right track.

Keep it readable. A plan with simple headings and short lists will be used. A plan buried in jargon will sit in a drawer.

Which crises should you plan for?

Pick the ones that are most likely or most damaging for your farm. In Texas that often means severe weather, power loss, fire, animal disease, worker injury and equipment failure. Drought and heat are slower, but planning for them matters too.

The Ready.gov site has general disaster preparedness guidance, and National Weather Service warnings help you act early. For animal health, the Texas Animal Health Commission publishes current disease information.

Do not try to cover everything at once. Start with the two scenarios that would hurt most, write those pages well and add others over time. A good short plan beats a perfect plan that never gets finished. General program information is collected at USDA.

• Severe storms and flooding
• Fire
• Power outage during milking
• Animal disease
• Worker injury or illness
• Feed or water shortage

Roles, contacts and decisions

For each scenario, decide who leads, who communicates and who handles animals. Make a one-page contact list: veterinarian, insurance agent, electrician, milk hauler, buyer, county emergency office and neighbors with equipment.

Decide in advance who can authorize spending and who can shut down an operation. Confusion about authority wastes time. The farm safety guide on our sister site is a useful companion when you write the injury and hazard sections.

Include a short checklist for the first hour of any emergency: safety first, call for help, protect animals, notify key people, document, then communicate. Written steps are comforting when your head is spinning.

A sample outline you can copy

Copy this into your own document and fill in each heading. It should end up as a few pages, not a book. Share it with anyone who has authority on the farm and keep a printed copy where it can be found without electricity.

Add the date you last reviewed the plan at the top, and put a reminder in your calendar for next year. A plan that is out of date can do more harm than none at all.

• Purpose and who the plan covers
• Scenarios and first-hour checklist
• Roles and contact list
• Communication and records
• Animal care and milking continuity
• Insurance and financial notes
• Review and drill schedule

Money, insurance and records

A crisis is easier to survive with records. Keep copies of insurance policies, herd records, equipment lists and bank contacts somewhere safe, preferably in two places. Photograph equipment and animals on a calm day.

Talk to your insurance agent about what is covered and what is not. For financial resources, the Farm Service Agency publishes information on disaster assistance programs, and details change, so check the current page rather than relying on a summary. The budgeting ideas in this farm money guide can help you build a cash cushion.

Share a copy with your milk buyer or cooperative if they need one, and ask whether they have requirements for what the plan includes.

Drills and reviews

Test the plan once a year. Walk through a scenario with your crew, and see whether the phone numbers work. Update after every real event, near miss or staff change.

Keep a short log of what you learned, since that log becomes the best part of the plan over time.

Looking after people

Plans that ignore people fail. If you or a family member is struggling with stress or despair after an event, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. More information is at the Lifeline website.

For a lighter break, farm.FM has a dairy section and farming stories, and a farm.FM story about being prepared makes a friendly reminder to write the plan down.

Sources and further reading

• Ready.gov: FEMA disaster preparedness
• National Weather Service: forecasts and warnings
• Texas Animal Health Commission: animal disease rules
• USDA Farm Service Agency: FSA farm programs and loans
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Texas extension service

Ask locally: Your insurance agent, herd veterinarian and county emergency management office can each review the parts of your plan that touch their work.