The Texas Animal Health Commission has opened a public comment period on four rule proposals that would reshape how the state handles veterinary inspection certificates, New World screwworm inspectors, sheep and goat entry requirements, and exhibition poultry moving across state lines.
Texas animal health officials have imposed movement restrictions on parts of two Big Bend counties after screwworm was found in a horse near the Rio Grande — the first horse infested since the flesh-eating parasite returned to the United States in June.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller declared an agricultural emergency Sept. 4 in response to flash flooding along the Gulf Coast and in East Texas caused by Tropical Storm Edouard.
The Texas Department of Agriculture and Feeding Texas announced Sept. 1 that they are teaming up for Hunger Action Month, a nationwide September campaign to raise awareness of food insecurity and encourage Texans to support neighbors facing hunger.
The Texas Department of Agriculture said Sept. 1 that its investigators helped law enforcement agencies unravel an alleged organized grain-theft operation spanning multiple Texas counties, leading to the arrests of three men.
The board that hands out Texas farm grants and loan guarantees meets Sept. 3 to consider moving money among the pieces of a $100 million program the Legislature built last year.
A dog in Crockett County tested positive for New World screwworm on Aug. 31, and by the next afternoon the state veterinarian had drawn a new quarantine line around part of the county.
The Texas Department of Agriculture said Commissioner Sid Miller praised President Donald Trump's pledge to strengthen the nation's cattle industry by cutting federal red tape, expanding opportunities for independent beef processors and giving ranchers more freedom to sell directly to consumers.
Federal animal health officials lifted movement restrictions on livestock in part of New Mexico on Aug. 30, the first time any area of the United States has come out from under a screwworm control zone since the outbreak began in June.
The Texas Department of Agriculture activated two disaster relief programs Wednesday as the fast-moving Ross Wildfire threatened farms, ranches and livestock operations in Palo Pinto and Jack counties.