1. Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences
  2. Research
  3. Research Projects
  4. Health, welfare and biosecurity of livestock exposed to Australian bushfires
Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences

Health, welfare and biosecurity of livestock exposed to Australian bushfires

Home
This project will investigate how livestock who survive the initial bushfire period may be affected in the medium to long-term, including detailed investigations of animal health, animal welfare, and meat quality.

Bushfires are a consistent feature of Australia’s environment. While risk management strategies and the effects of bushfire on people and communities are relatively well understood, much less is known about how bushfire affects grazing livestock beyond the loss of severely burnt animals. Limited evidence is available to inform strategies for red meat producers to reduce the extent of livestock injury and loss in the event of a bushfire and, once a bushfire has occurred, minimise ongoing impacts on the enterprise.

An in-depth survey of herd and flock managers affected in the 2019-2020 fire season, along with an online survey of a wider audience and an expert opinion workshop, will be conducted to document bushfire preparedness strategies and identify approaches associated with improved physical and financial recovery.

The project will provide a valuable resource for future fire seasons in the form of a ‘Livestock Wellbeing Bushfire Preparation and Recovery Manual’ for producers. This will fill an important gap by providing best-practice recommendations for stock exposed to Australian bushfire conditions.

Contact the team

    Principal Investigator

  1. Dr Caitlin Pfeiffer

    Lecturer In Veterinary Epidemiology (One Health)

    • caitlin.pfeiffer@unimelb.edu.au
    • +613 8001 2582

Project objectives

  1. Publication of a Livestock Wellbeing Bushfire Preparation and Recovery Manual
    The main output from this project is the publication of a ‘Livestock Wellbeing Bushfire Preparation and Recovery Manual’ for producers. This manual will fill an important gap, providing information and recommendations about animal health, welfare, meat quality, biosecurity and post-fire recovery on bushfire-affected farms. The results of specific studies in the project will be published as articles in refereed journals.
  2. Adoption of recommendations
    Uptake of recommendations from the ‘Livestock Wellbeing Bushfire Preparation and Recovery Manual’. Adoption of recommendations from the final report (producer manual) is expected to commence in late 2021, prior to the 2021-22 bushfire season.

Funding and partners

This project is funded by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) (project number B.AHE.2102). View MLA's project page here.

The University of Melbourne acknowledges its partners in this project:

  • Ausvet

    Ausvet provides global consulting services in epidemiology, disease surveillance, health information systems, biosecurity, risk assessment, research and data analysis and project management.

  • Faculty of Science, the University of Sydney

    The University of Sydney has a broad and globally recognised expertise in research across four veterinary science themes: production animals, companion animals, wildlife and One Health.

Project team

    Principal Investigator

  1. Dr Caitlin Pfeiffer

    Lecturer In Veterinary Epidemiology (One Health)

    Caitlin Pfeiffer's research is focussed on veterinary epidemiology, emerging infectious diseases and spatial epidemiology (how health problems are distributed across landscapes) in both human and animal health. Her recent work includes projects that focus on mapping emerging infectious disease risk, delivering training for capacity building in South-East Asia, the health and welfare of Australian livestock and wildlife in bushfire response and recovery, and online learning design and delivery.

    • Find an Expert profile
    • caitlin.pfeiffer@unimelb.edu.au
  2. Co-investigators

  3. Dr Megan Thomas

    Lecturer

    Megan Thomas is an experienced veterinarian with a background including dairy and red meat industries. She worked full-time as a primary care veterinarian in a mixed practice (dairy cattle and small animals) in West Gippsland until April 2014. From 2014 until 2019 she worked towards a PhD on a project investigating the effect of joint defects on the surrounding cartilage and bone in an equine model.

    • megan.thomas@unimelb.edu.au
  4. Dr Carolina Munoz Gallardo

    Postdocoral Resarch Fellow (Ruminant Livestock)

    Carolina Munoz is an experienced researcher in animal welfare science extended to pigs, poultry, cattle and sheep sectors. She is current appointed as a post-doc research fellow in animal welfare, contributing to a research program on the benefits and costs of ceasing mulesing in prime lamb systems, while also examining the key drivers for farmer behaviour towards continuation of mulesing prime lambs’ dams, and possible barriers for behavioural change towards mulesing-free systems..

    • Find an Expert profile
    • munoz.c@unimelb.edu.au
  5. Dr John Webb Ware

    Senior Lecturer (Production Animal and Farm Management)

    John Webb Ware is a veterinarian and senior consultant with the University of Melbourne's Mackinnon Project. He advises to primary producers throughout south eastern Australia on all aspect of farm management and production including farm systems and farm economics where the objective is to maximise profitability. He also consults widely to agribusiness and is a member of various farm management and agriculture related boards.

    • Find an Expert profile
    • j.webbware@unimelb.edu.au
  6. Professor Peter Mansell

    Professor – Cattle 

    Peter Mansell is a Professor in cattle medicine and husbandry, with senior responsibility for administration, teaching and examination of those aspects of the veterinary curriculum. He was also the President of the Veterinary Practitioners Registration Board of Victoria (2016 to 2019). He has been contracted to author or co-author 15 commissioned reports to industry and government bodies relating to topics of product registration, safety or efficacy, or as an independent reviewer of projects or industry reports.

    • Find an Expert profile
    • pmansell@unimelb.edu.au
  7. Professor Andrew Fisher

    Chair of Cattle and Sheep Production Medicine

    Andrew Fisher has published extensively on animal welfare issues relating to sheep and cattle production. He has led or been part of research teams providing research on improving animal welfare during transport, reducing the pain of husbandry procedures (including mulesing), and on dairy cow and calf health and welfare. He has contributed to policy and extension through involvement as a member of the writing and reference groups for the sheep welfare standards and guidelines.

    • Find an Expert profile
    • adfisher@unimelb.edu.au
  8. Professor Mark Stevenson

    Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology (One Health)

    Mark Stevenson has worked as an epidemiologist for the past 20 years accumulating a broad range of experience in the investigation of disease and production shortfalls at the farm, national and international levels. Key areas of interest are spatial epidemiology where he is co-author of one of the subject area’s key textbooks used for postgraduate teaching.

    • Find an Expert profile
    • mark.stevenson1@unimelb.edu.au
  9. Dr Simon Firestone

    Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health

    Simon Firestone has worked as a veterinary and public health epidemiologist developing zoonoses surveillance and investigating outbreaks of foodborne and zoonotic disease in Australia, Indonesia and Cambodia. He coordinates and teaches into the online Master of Veterinary Public Health and is active in research into the spatio-temporal analysis of disease spread in populations and risk factor studies into outbreaks and zoonotic diseases including Q fever, equine influenza, salmonellosis, Ross River virus and bovine Theileriosis.

    • Find an Expert profile
    • simon.firestone@unimelb.edu.au
  10. Professor Robyn Warner

    Professor of Meat Science

    Robyn Warner has received international and national awards for her role on the Meat Standards Australia food grading scheme. She is Australia’s contact person for the Annual International Congress of Meat Science and Technology and her areas of interest and expertise include packaging interventions and smart packaging, consumer sensory perceptions as well as fundamental investigations of the biology biochemistry and biophysics of muscle and food in determining tenderness, colour, flavour and shelf-life.

    • Find an Expert profile
    • robyn.warner@unimelb.edu.au
  • Staff Intranet
  • Contact Us

Support FVAS Donate Today


  • FVAS Facebook
  • FVAS LinkedIn
  • FVAS Twitter
  • FVAS Instagram

Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences

  • Study
    • Courses
      • DVM redir
    • Breadth
      • Breadth Subjects at Dookie
      • Australia in the Wine World
      • Insects Shaping Society
      • Beer: Theory and Craft
      • Feeding the World's Population
      • Living with Animals
      • Wine and Food
      • Feeding the World's Population
    • Honours
    • Scholarships
      • FVAS Scholarships
      • FVAS Prizes
      • Other scholarships and funding opportunities
    • Continuing Professional Development
    • Student Accommodation
      • Kendall Hall
      • Dookie Campus
    • Pre Ag Club
    • Pre Vet Club
    • Graduate Mentoring
    • Dookie Mentoring
  • News
    • New agriculture degree sees graduates ready for the ‘boom century’
    • U-Vet Werribee Animal Hospital and Werribee campus redevelopment
    • Dookie Day 2017
    • Clinical trial: Investigation of stem cells as treatment for spinal cord injuries in dogs
    • Dookie Day 2018 opens the University of Melbourne's agricultural campus to the community
    • New Technology Applications for Agriculture: Going Beyond Awareness
    • Dookie campus produce for sale
    • Call for donors: cats to help other cats at new feline blood bank
    • Herd mentality: Norm Williamson’s multi-faceted career
    • Dog blood saves sick cat's life ahead of opening of new feline blood bank
    • Calling to dog owners for canine CPR research study
    • Bachelor of Agriculture Capstone Showcase 2018
    • Research Week showcases veterinary, agricultural and food science collaboration
    • 2018 Academic promotions reflect push for gender equality in universities
    • New professor boosts Melbourne's precision agriculture research and teaching
    • University of Melbourne opens new $100 million life sciences complex in Melbourne’s biomedical precinct
    • Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences Awards Night 2019
    • Students and community to benefit from veterinary campus expansion
    • Melbourne Veterinary School Learning and Teaching Building Opening
    • Surgery success for one of Australia’s oldest lions
    • Dookie Day explores the future of agriculture and the Goulburn Valley region’s Indigenous heritage
    • Microwaves put the heat on herbicide resistant weeds
    • What is conservation medicine, and why is it important?
    • Agriculture students present solutions to issues facing industry
    • Study investigates suitable rootstocks for Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir
    • New book explores the perspectives of the first women to study at Dookie
    • Herd mentality
    • The University of Melbourne: Bushfire response
    • New project to help prevent spread of animal to human diseases
    • Work needed to reduce the negative effects of heat stress on Australian dairy cows, research reveals
    • Researchers call for rigorous wildlife surveillance to prevent disease outbreak
    • Bite-sized lecture: The science behind sourdough
    • Take a virtual tour of our campuses at Dookie, Parkville and Werribee
    • The 2020 Dungala Kaiela Oration
    • Using environmental DNA to help stop frogs from croaking it
    • Hyperspectral insight provides early warning of threatening crop disease
  • Events
  • Research
    • Research Areas
    • Learning and Teaching
    • Graduate Research
    • Research Centres
      • Animal Welfare Science Centre
      • Asia Pacific Centre for Animal Health
      • Centre for Equine Infectious Disease
      • Unlocking the Food Value Chain
      • Healthy Soils for Sustainable Food Production and Environmental Quality
      • The Mackinnon Project
      • OIE Collaborating Centre for Diagnostic Test Validation Science in the Asia-Pacific Region
      • Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre
    • Research Groups
      • Agricultural and Urban Waste Management
      • Analytics, Modelling and Technology
      • Bone and Muscle Cell Biology
      • Digital Agriculture, Food and Wine
      • Food Chemistry and Microbiology
      • Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change
      • Hyperspectral and Thermal Remote Sensing Laboratory (HyperSens)
      • Nutrient Management
      • One Health Research Group
      • Parasitology
      • Smart Fertilisers
      • Soil-Plant Microbiomes
      • Taking the Query out of Q Fever
      • Veterinary Epidemiology @ Melbourne
    • Research Projects
      • Health, welfare and biosecurity of livestock exposed to Australian bushfires
    • Research Week
  • Alumni
    • News & Pursuit
    • Reunions
    • Alumni Profiles
    • Professional Development
    • Alumni Benefits
    • Update your details
  • Support Us
    • How can I make a gift?
    • Impact
    • Visionary Veterinarians
    • Dookie Fund
    • Animal Pain Management & Rehabilitation Fund
    • A fruitful philanthropic partnership between LMCF and FVAS
  • About Us
    • About Our Faculty
    • Accreditation
    • Contact Us
  • U-Vet - Werribee Vet Hospital
  • Current Students
    • Current Students
    • Guide to your course
    • Enrich your study
      • Cross-institutional Study
      • Exchange and Study Abroad
      • Intensive subjects at Dookie
      • Internships
      • Mentoring programs
      • Research Project Subjects
    • Student life and support
      • Clubs and Societies
      • Scholarships, awards and prizes
      • Support services
      • Wellbeing Grants
  • Dookie
  • Current Students
  • Library
  • Staff