Source: David Cook, M.Sc., P.Eng., Regional Engineer, Saskatoon, February 2019
Planning for a mass mortality event may seem counterintuitive, since no one plans to lose their livestock, but mortality losses occur on a regular basis on any livestock operation.
As the saying goes, if you have livestock, you will have deadstock.
Mortality losses are usually small in number, such as losing a few calves during calving season. These day-to-day losses can be managed as they occur easily enough. However, livestock operations have the potential to experience extreme or total loss of their livestock population. This scenario can be much more difficult to manage if there is not a mass mortality plan in place.
