Biosecurity on the Farm

by Greg Strait
Fulton County Extension Educator

What is biosecurity?? Until 9-11-01 not many really knew what it was to have bio-security. Now it is something that we in agriculture need to reassess. There were industries in the ag community that utilized biosecurity more that others. For instance the poultry and swine industries have set standards that many farmers are duplicating today. A biosecurity program is like having health insurance for your herd and farm. Many

producers with the help of others can develop a plan based on the chances of introducing diseases onto the farm. Farmers must take all precautions to ward off any kind of infectious disease that may enter their farm.

Viruses, bacteria, mycoplasma and pests do not respect fences and they can enter your operation in a variety of ways. These are just some examples of how our farms can become contaminated:

• Animals: other livestock, wild animals, pets and insects
• People: bodies, clothing, shoes
  
• Animal feed, water, bedding, and soil
  
• Equipment of any type: weed seeds, diseases, and insects
  
• Vehicles: tires, road dirt

So how do we combat this situation? You need to develop a plan including your veterinarian, local extension educator, farm advisor, nutritionist and anyone that you feel may be of an asset. This plan will not be typical for every farm in your area.

Here are just a few examples:

• Educate family and friends that will be at the farm
  
• Limit the number of visitors
  
• Provide clean, disposable footwear and/or protective clothing if necessary.
  
• Provide effective boot washing areas
  
• Restrict close contact between animals and visitors
  
• Meet with all vendors that service your farm to work out procedures that they must follow every time they visit your farm.
  
• Establish a traffic pattern for vehicles that have visited other livestock facilities. You may want to provide disinfectant to rinse their tires prior to entering your livestock areas.
  
• If purchasing animals from another source, be sure to isolate them for approximately 30 days.
  
• If you have isolated animals, be sure to disinfect everything prior to using on other animals.
  
• Be sure to handle the isolated animals last prior to leaving the farm. This will decrease any cross contamination.
  
• Keep facilities as clean as possible. Be sure to clean all feces from pens regularly.
  
• Minimize feeding contaminated feed.