Agriculture Victoria veterinarians and animal health staff are responding to the case, which has been identified as the cause of death for one animal.

Victoria's Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Charles Milne, said biosecurity requirements had been put in place.

"We are taking the necessary steps to reduce the likelihood of this detection impacting more livestock, some local measures have been put in place and at-risk livestock are being vaccinated," Dr Milne said.

"Quarantine controls will not affect the movement of local people or vehicles, including school bus routes."

Agriculture Victoria said anthrax was not a concern for the public as it did not spread rapidly, was not contagious, and was not associated with any general public health risk.

”Any risk is confined to people who handle dead livestock such as farmers, veterinarians and knackery workers,” the department advised in a statement.

“There is no impact on local produce or food safety.”

Dr Milne said anthrax was caused by a naturally occurring bacteria, Bacillus anthracis, that was known to be present in the soil in parts of Northern Victoria.

Several farms in the Swan Hill area were affected by Anthrax in March last year.

“It is not unusual for incidents of anthrax to be detected in cattle and sheep in the region,” Dr Milne said.

"Incidents commonly occur during the warmer months when it's drier and the cattle and sheep forage deeper into the soil when eating grass."

The department said farmers, veterinarians and Agriculture Victoria were well prepared to handle anthrax incidents.

Measures include strict quarantine and biosecurity arrangements, the vaccination of potentially exposed stock and the destruction of the carcasses of affected animals.

Agriculture Victoria has urged farmers to report any cases of unexplained deaths to the 24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888, to their local vet, or to Agriculture Victoria animal health staff.

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