Livestock Disease Reporting in Oregon: Rules, Requirements, and Responsibilities

Oregon’s livestock industry depends on fast, accurate disease reporting to stop outbreaks before they spread across herds, counties, and state lines. Whether you raise cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, or horses, understanding your reporting obligations under state law is not optional — it is a legal requirement with real consequences for non-compliance.

This guide walks you through every stage of the livestock disease reporting process in Oregon: which diseases are covered, who must file a report, what warning signs trigger action, how and when to report, what the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) does next, and what penalties apply if you fail to act.

Reportable Livestock Diseases in Oregon

Oregon divides reportable livestock diseases into two main categories: immediately reportable diseases and conditions and monitored diseases. Each category carries different reporting timelines and procedures, but both are legally enforceable.

These diseases can have severe consequences to livestock or companion animals, create significant economic impacts, or pose zoonotic risk, making timely reporting essential to quickly identify and control disease outbreaks. In Oregon, OAR 603-011-0212 outlines the complete list of diseases of interest to the state and details the authority of the State Veterinarian to request reports on disease of concern associated with overall disease control measures.

Immediately reportable diseases include some of the most dangerous and economically devastating conditions in livestock production. Oregon veterinarians must immediately notify the State Veterinarian by phone at (503) 986-4711 upon clinical suspicion of diseases including Brucellosis (Brucella abortus, B. mellitensis, B. suis, B. canis) and Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides). Additional immediately reportable diseases include foot-and-mouth disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever, and any unidentified vesicular disease.

The monitored disease list covers a broader range of conditions that require laboratory confirmation before reporting. These include:

• Anaplasmosis (Anaplasma marginale, A. centrale) and Avian mycoplasmosis (Mycoplasma gallisepticum, M. synoviae)
• Bovine genital campylobacteriosis (Campylobacter fetus venerealis) and Campylobacter-associated abortion (Campylobacter spp.)
• Cysticercosis, Coccidioidomycosis/Valley fever, and Contagious agalactia
• Pigeon fever/Ulcerative lymphangitis/Caseous lymphadenitis (Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis)
• Mange (multiple species variants) and New World screwworm
• Duck viral hepatitis (domestic poultry) and Equine rhinopneumonitis (EHV-1)

Oregon also recognizes a third trigger category: any unusual disease event. Any disease, infection, or infestation in domestic or wild animals that is a threat to terrestrial animals, aquatic animals, or humans must be reported immediately if an unknown agent is causing disease in a herd, flock, or premises and has the potential to result in a significant animal or public health impact, and applied diagnostic tests have yielded negative or non-definitive results.

A newly identified agent causing disease in a herd, flock, or premises with the potential to cause significant animal or public health impact — or a previously identified pathogenic agent showing a change in epidemiology, such as unexpected production impacts, morbidity/mortality, or a change in geography — must also be reported immediately.

For a broader understanding of bovine-specific conditions that often appear on Oregon’s monitored disease list, the overview of bovine disease provides helpful background on cattle health risks.

Who Is Required to Report a Livestock Disease in Oregon

The primary legal obligation to report rests with licensed veterinarians practicing in Oregon. Veterinarians practicing in Oregon are legally required to report certain diseases and abnormalities only to ODA. Any person practicing veterinary medicine in this state, having knowledge of the existence of any livestock disease listed pursuant to ORS 596.321, shall immediately report the disease to the department in the manner provided by rule or regulation.

Livestock owners and producers also carry obligations under Oregon law. No person owning, possessing or controlling any livestock affected by any disease shall fail to keep it within an enclosure, or herd it in some place where it is secure from contact with other livestock not so affected. Additionally, a person may not sell, offer to sell, or dispose of any livestock that the person knows to be exposed to, a carrier of, or infected with any disease required to be reported under ORS 596.321, except to a slaughterer or to a rendering plant, or pursuant to and as authorized by a quarantine order.

Diagnostic laboratories also play a role in the reporting chain. Automatic reporting by diagnostic laboratories to ODA may fulfill a veterinarian’s reporting requirement, but it is the veterinarian’s responsibility to confirm that the laboratory has reported the disease. Laboratories — not individual veterinarians — are required by OAR 333-018-0017 to report certain diseases of zoonotic concern directly to the OHA Public Health Division.

If you work with poultry and are concerned about diseases that may overlap with zoonotic reporting requirements, the article on Newcastle disease covers one of the most closely watched avian conditions in the country. You may also want to review resources on zoonotic disease to understand which animal illnesses can cross over to humans.

Signs and Symptoms That Trigger a Report in Oregon

Knowing when to report starts with recognizing the clinical signs that place a disease in the immediately reportable or monitored category. Oregon’s rules are intentionally broad to capture emerging threats before laboratory confirmation is available.

For immediately reportable diseases, the trigger is clinical suspicion — you do not need a confirmed laboratory result to be required to call. Immediately reportable abnormalities and diseases must be reported via telephone (503-986-4711) upon clinical suspicion, prior to initiating laboratory testing. This means that if your veterinarian observes signs consistent with a high-consequence disease, the phone call to ODA must happen before samples are even sent to a lab.

The following clinical presentations should raise immediate concern and prompt a report:

• Vesicular lesions on the mouth, feet, or teats (possible foot-and-mouth disease or vesicular stomatitis)
• Rapid, unexplained death across multiple animals in a herd or flock
• Severe respiratory distress with high mortality in poultry (possible HPAI)
• Neurological signs including circling, seizures, or sudden collapse in cattle or horses
• Unexplained abortions across multiple animals on the same premises
• Unusual swelling of the head, neck, or limbs combined with fever
• Sudden drop in milk production combined with fever and lameness

For monitored diseases, the trigger shifts to laboratory confirmation. The short answer is yes — report every new case or infection even if the animal is not showing clinical signs, because ODA wants all cases reported so they can build a publicly available dashboard for veterinarians to see case numbers by county for all reportable diseases in Oregon.

If an antibody test suggests previous exposure rather than current infection, this does not necessarily need to be reported, but ODA will still accept a report. When in doubt, report it.

Producers who keep swine should be especially vigilant, as Oregon has seen situations where animals diagnosed with infectious diseases were knowingly moved. In recent years, there have been several situations where animals diagnosed with an infectious disease were knowingly moved, leading to additional exposures and new cases of disease.

For those raising companion animals alongside livestock, it is worth understanding how disease recognition applies across species. Resources on common pigeon diseases and diseases in pet birds can help producers who manage mixed-species operations recognize avian health threats early.

How to Report a Livestock Disease in Oregon

Oregon provides two distinct reporting pathways depending on whether the disease is immediately reportable or a monitored disease. Using the correct channel matters — submitting a monitored disease report by phone when an immediate report was required, or vice versa, does not satisfy your legal obligation.

Immediately reportable abnormalities and diseases must be reported via telephone (503-986-4711) upon clinical suspicion, prior to initiating laboratory testing. The ODA Animal Disease Reporting Hotline is staffed to receive these calls and can assist with sample collection protocols and expedited testing.

For monitored diseases, you can submit a monitored disease report online via the ODA’s online reporting form. Monitored diseases are reportable within 15 days of laboratory confirmation (including in-house testing) via the Oregon Monitored Disease Reporting Form or the online fillable reporting form.

When you call ODA about an immediately reportable disease, be prepared to provide:

1. Your name, practice name, and contact information
2. The premises location (address or GPS coordinates)
3. Species affected and approximate number of animals
4. A description of clinical signs observed
5. Any preliminary diagnostic tests already performed
6. Whether the affected animals have been moved recently

For immediately reportable diseases and conditions, in most cases ODA wants reporting prior to testing, since ODA can help expedite shipping and testing and can generally cover the cost when testing is necessary. Additionally, for many of those situations, specific testing will be required, and ODA wants to help ensure proper samples are taken and laboratory submission protocols are followed.

ODA forwards results of interest to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC). This means a single report to ODA satisfies your obligation to multiple agencies.

Producers in other states with similar reporting frameworks can compare Oregon’s process to livestock disease reporting in California, livestock disease reporting in Colorado, and livestock disease reporting in Florida for a broader regional perspective.

Reporting Deadlines and Timeframes in Oregon

Oregon’s reporting system uses two distinct timeframes that correspond directly to the two disease categories. Missing either deadline constitutes a violation of state law.

For immediately reportable diseases, there is effectively no grace period. Immediately reportable diseases must be reported via telephone (503-986-4711) upon clinical suspicion, prior to initiating laboratory testing. The clock starts the moment a veterinarian observes clinical signs consistent with a listed disease — not when a lab result comes back.

For monitored diseases, the deadline is 15 days from laboratory confirmation. Any person practicing veterinary medicine in this state shall notify the department on forms provided by it, within 15 days of laboratory confirmation of any of the following monitored diseases.

There are important nuances around what counts as laboratory confirmation and who bears responsibility:

• When a reference laboratory automatically reports positive results for any monitored disease to ODA, that fulfills the veterinarian’s responsibility to report those results. However, positive in-house lab results must still be reported to ODA by the veterinarian or veterinary practice within 15 days, even if the results are uploaded into an online laboratory system, because those systems do not share data with ODA.
• Immediately reportable diseases must always be reported to ODA by veterinarians or the veterinarian’s office via phone (503-986-4711), even if a laboratory sends results to ODA.
• For chronic diseases, if the case has already been reported, ODA does not need reporting of continued positive results that are presumed to be the same infection or part of the same outbreak already reported in a herd. Similarly, if an animal was diagnosed with a reportable disease through laboratory tests submitted by another Oregon veterinarian, you do not need to report that case, since the previous veterinarian was required to do so by law.

However, if an animal or herd clears a disease and is later reinfected, that new infection should be reported. Reinfection events are treated as new cases under Oregon rules and require a fresh report within the applicable timeframe.

Producers in neighboring states can review how deadlines compare by reading about livestock disease reporting in Illinois and livestock disease reporting in Michigan.

What Happens After You Report in Oregon

Once you submit a report to ODA, the agency’s response is calibrated to the specific disease, the size and type of operation, and the risk of spread. Not every report results in a quarantine or major regulatory action.

For lower-risk situations, there may not be any regulatory action taken beyond taking the report. For most diseases, ODA has a fair amount of latitude in terms of how it responds, and for many diseases, it will defer to a joint risk assessment of the case with the attending veterinarian. For example, if the case occurs on a fairly isolated farm and the risk of spread beyond that property is minimal, ODA often may not take any further action beyond recording the case.

If the case occurs in a larger or busier facility, or in an animal where compliance with biosecurity or isolation is of concern, ODA can work with the veterinarian and the owner to obtain testing as appropriate and then take regulatory action as needed.

ODA’s primary response tools include:

• Quarantine orders — restricting movement of affected animals and potentially the premises
• Mandatory testing — requiring specific diagnostic samples from the herd or flock
• Biosecurity guidance — working with producers and veterinarians to implement isolation and sanitation protocols
• Depopulation and indemnity — in severe cases, ordering the destruction of infected animals with compensation provided under state law
• Interagency coordination — forwarding results to OHA, ODFW, and EDCC as appropriate

The owner of any livestock or property which is slaughtered or otherwise destroyed at the order of the State Department of Agriculture in the performance of its duty to eradicate and control the contagious and communicable diseases of livestock in this state is entitled to indemnity as provided in ORS 596.640 to 596.681.

The ODA carries out its animal health responsibilities through four primary statutory responsibilities: Livestock Disease Control and Response, Animal Disease Traceability (ADT), Animal Emergency Planning and Response, and providing veterinary oversight to the State Meat Inspection Program.

Oregon also participates in cooperative state and federal programs to eradicate specific diseases in food animals, which means a report filed with ODA may trigger a coordinated federal response for certain high-consequence diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease or highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Penalties for Failing to Report in Oregon

Oregon law treats failures to report — and related violations such as moving diseased animals — as serious offenses with escalating consequences depending on the nature of the violation.

Violation of any of the provisions of ORS 596.075, 596.321, 596.331 (1) or (3), 596.351, 596.388, 596.392 (1) to (3) or (6), 596.404 to 596.416 or 596.460, or of any lawful order of the State Department of Agriculture issued pursuant to this chapter, is a Class A violation. ORS 596.321 is the statute that governs the rules for reporting listed livestock diseases, meaning a failure to report falls directly within this penalty category.

Violation of any of the quarantine provisions of ORS 596.331(2), 596.355, 596.392(4) or (5) or 596.394 to 596.402 is a specific fine violation punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000. These quarantine provisions apply when a person moves or sells diseased, exposed, or quarantined animals in violation of a state order.

Oregon has also been developing expanded civil penalty authority. Senate Bill 832 would create civil penalties tied to violations of animal disease control and reporting requirements and violations related to garbage-fed swine and animal feed manufacturing plants. The department said the civil-authority model aligns the animal health program’s enforcement tools with administrative enforcement used elsewhere in the agency.

Under proposed civil penalty rules, violations are tiered by severity:

• Category 1 violations include submitting false or fraudulent applications, records, invoices, or reports; impeding, obstructing, or hindering the Department from performing its duties; making false or misleading representations in connection with the sale, movement, or destruction of animals; and selling, offering to sell, or disposing of any livestock that the person knows to be exposed to, a carrier of, or infected with any disease required to be reported under ORS 596.321, unless otherwise authorized.
• Each 24-hour period that elapses constitutes a separate and distinct violation under quarantine provisions, and any violation that results in substantial harm to human health or animal health, the subsequent spread of disease to non-infected premises, or that requires the Department to incur costs to address the violation may be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 per violation.

Beyond financial penalties, failing to report carries significant practical consequences:

• Loss of eligibility for state indemnity payments if animals must be destroyed
• Potential criminal liability for knowingly moving diseased animals
• Damage to relationships with neighboring producers and the broader livestock industry
• Increased ODA oversight and mandatory testing requirements for your operation

The bottom line is straightforward: reporting a disease promptly protects your herd, your neighbors’ herds, and Oregon’s agricultural economy. The penalties for non-reporting — financial, legal, and reputational — far outweigh any short-term inconvenience of making that call to ODA at (503) 986-4711.

For questions about your specific reporting obligations, contact the ODA Animal Health Program directly at (503) 986-4680 or by email at animalhealth@oda.oregon.gov. You can also consult the ODA Veterinary Disease Reporting page for the current disease list, reporting forms, and printable posters for your operation.