Muscotah ? From the biggest to the smallest, Kansas feedlot operators since Sept. 11 are keeping a closer eye on the cattle in their pens and the people who come and go on their property.

Since the terrorist attacks six months ago, the national slogan has been greater awareness and alertness, from the White House to the bunk house.

Terry and Paul Handke stand next to one of the feeding pens on their family-run feedlot near Muscotah. The brothers are more watchful and find themselves locking more gates since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Agroterrorism is a major concern in Kansas, where feedlots are a vital link between the pastures and the packers.

“You think about it where before you didn’t. You try to be a little more observant. If something looks out of the ordinary, you just look a little closer,” said Terry Handke, who along with his brother, Paul, operates a feedlot near this Atchison County community.

The Kansas Livestock Assn. estimates there are about 120 commercial feedlots in the state, which ranks second nationally in the number of fed cattle marketed.

Threat of diseases

Just the mention of foot-and-mouth disease is enough to send shivers up the spines of most cattlemen. There’s concern it somehow could become a tool for terrorists.

“It’s so mobile, that’s what is so scary about it,” Terry Handke said.

He isn’t the only one concerned.

“Foot-and-mouth is the greatest threat to livestock,” said George Teagarden, state animal health commissioner. “It’s the most contagious, infectious disease known to man.”

He said the good news is that the state’s last known case of foot-and-mouth disease was some 90 years ago and it isn’t found anywhere in North America.

Cattle develop blisters mainly in the mouth or on the feet, giving the disease its name. There’s also fever, appetite loss, severe slobbering, rapid weight loss and lameness.

“With foot and mouth, if you have one infected cow, they all would get it,” Teagarden said. “In less than seven days, you could infect a herd of 5,000 from one infected cow.”

The entire herd would have to be destroyed to prevent the disease from spreading.

A quarantine area of up to six miles would be established around the infected area. Animals would be tested by federal and state animal health officials, said Paul Grosdidier, a state veterinarian.

Grosdidier said if the disease struck a feedlot, it would be emptied, cleaned and decontaminated.

“You’d be looking at a minimum of 30 days before you could even think about restocking,” he said.

The disease isn’t harmful to humans but Teagarden said all international markets would be closed. The state exports some $900 million in cattle and beef annually.

Last year, there was the anthrax scare, but Teagarden said that isn’t contagious among cattle.

Another concern is mad cow disease, but KLA spokesman Todd Downer said it has been kept out of the United States.

“If you are talking about things in the wake of Sept. 11, (mad cow) doesn’t play into that because it is so difficult to transmit and the firewalls in place have been very effective,” he said.

It’s transmitted by feeding animal byproducts or bone meal to cattle a practice the U.S. government prohibits.

More scrutiny

The Sept. 11 attacks changed many things, including how feedlots operate. For starters, they now make even closer checks of all cattle, and accompanying paperwork gets a little more scrutiny.

Domer said there’s more attention to basic sanitation, such as keeping loading chutes cleaned and disinfected

Feed and water contamination at feedlots isn’t a worry because both have undergone extensive checks for years, he added.

Rich McKee, who heads the KLA feedlot division, said most feedlots have increased security since Sept. 11. That includes such things as additional fencing and armed guards at night at some locations and keeping closer tabs on who comes and goes.

Security can range from such high-tech devices as surveillance cameras to what many say is the best alarm a large watchdog with a loud bark.

Feedlot operators also exchange information, and the KLA and other industry groups and universities provide a wealth of information about preventative measures.

One thing favoring feedlot operators is they often know the cattle sellers. Many times it’s a relationship of trust built up over years and even generations.

“When you’re paying a dollar a pound, you have to be sure of what you’re buying,” Terry Handke said.

For their part, the Handke brothers are putting up signs directing visitors to stop at the office rather than heading for the pens where they keep about 3,000 cows.

When they leave the feedlot, the gates across roads leading to the pens are closed and locked. Additionally, Terry Handke and his family live at the feedlot entrance with a 100-pound watchdog.

“That’s part of our homeland security plan,” Paul Handke said with a laugh.