If you own and run a poultry farm there are a number of considerations you have to make with regards to any visitors to the working site. Protecting your livestock should be a priority at all times, and an unwelcome visitor, or a visitor entering an area of your poultry farm that they are not supposed to, can cause untold harm to your poultry in the form of illness, disease and possibly death as a result. Without a proper biosecurity plan in place and specific and detailed processed for visitors to your poultry farm, the health of your animals will suffer, and with it so too will your productivity levels and profit.
There are a few things that you should definitely have in place as part of your biosecurity on a poultry farm. These include a biosecurity plan and specific biosecurity officer with knowledge of all processes planned, a line of separation to protect your poultry, and a buffer area around the perimeter.
A Detailed Plan for Biosecurity on Your Poultry Farm
It is a central part of any successful farm to have in place a thorough and detailed biosecurity farm. For this you should put together a list of what is required for your poultry farm specifically, the number of animals you have on the farm, number of workers, potential visitors and the exact equipment and procedures used for each working aspect of the poultry farm, from hatching and feeding, to cleaning and preparation. A thorough biosecurity plan will include all of the following points and include the three central tenets of biosecurity that your poultry farm should adhere to.
One of the biggest dangers to the health of your animals is the movement of people, the movement of equipment used on site, and the procedures used to handle any manure or mortalities. Avian flu and other diseases can be spread easily if a plan is not followed to the letter in order to maintain high standards of biosecurity.
Have a Specific Biosecurity Officer – The person you choose for this role will ideally have experience in working with poultry, and have veterinary knowledge or be able to easily consult with someone who does. The biosecurity officer will be tasked with building the specific plan for your poultry farm; training individuals who either work on the farm or visit it regularly and they also have the authority to enforce any required action to follow the plan.
Build a Line of Separation – To maintain high standards of animal health a line of separation should be built between all individual buildings within your poultry farm. This way there are biosecurity processes that must be followed whenever you enter a new area on the farm, significantly reducing the risk of spreading disease throughout the whole farm in the case of an infection or death of an animal.
Create a Perimeter Buffer Area – This area should be created outside of the separated areas. So, for instance, an outer biosecurity control area should be set up outside the poultry houses. This ensures that any visitors and vehicles that have not been disinfected can still perform necessary tasks in certain areas of the farm, without spreading disease and infection to the important areas.
It does take some time and thought to set up a thorough and specific biosecurity plan for your poultry farm, but in the long-term it is hugely beneficial to animal health, productivity and profits.
