defra logo
|
 
Start of content

Biosecurity

Good biosecurity practice helps to minimise the risk of disease occurring or spreading, safeguarding the health and welfare of animals and protecting the viability of businesses.

Good Biosecurity, which literally means ‘safe life’, provides:

  • Peace of mind, healthy stock and a more viable business
  • Protects your neighbours and the countryside
  • Keeps new disease out
  • Reduces the spread of disease
  • Keeps more animals healthy
  • Cuts costs of disease prevention and treatment
  • Improves farm efficiency.

The message is simple:

  • disease may not always be apparent, especially in its early stages
  • be clean, particularly if handling animals or moving between different premises
  • a good biosecurity routine is always essential – not just when there is a exotic disease outbreak, it helps to protect against endemic diseases too.

It is the responsibility of everyone coming into contact with livestock, or the environment in which they live, to play their part in helping to avoid the devastating effects of animal disease.

Good biosecurity should be routinely adopted as part of farm management to help reduce the risk of exotic and the burden of endemic disease. Biosecurity plans should be part of any herd or flock health plan.

For further advice on farm health planning:

Good biosecurity practice

Key biosecurity practices

  • Buying new stock / Returning your stock to the farm
  • Hygiene
  • Clean food and water
  • Separation and isolation
  • Slurry Management
  • Traceability and identification
  • Safe disposal of fallen stock and animal by-products

Buying new stock and returning your stock to the farm

Always know the health status of animals you are buying or moving!

  • Incoming and returning stock should be kept separate from the rest of the herd/flock. Discuss with your vet and agree a testing programme
  • Use separate equipment and staff or handle isolated stock last
  • Keep isolation buildings as near as possible to the farm entrance and separate from other livestock buildings by 3 metres
  • If using a paddock, keep it separated by at least 3 metres (with double fencing) from other animals on the farm
  • Dispose of bedding so other livestock can’t have access to it.

Buying in animals carries a risk of introducing disease. There is a hierarchy of risk when sourcing animals; there are no absolute guarantees of freedom from disease but it is possible and worthwhile to determine the degree of risk. The sources of replacement livestock influence the degree of risk.

Animals in the lowest category of risk are:

  • Animals from health scheme herds certified free of specific diseases
  • Animals from health scheme herds being monitored for specific diseases
  • Single source herds of known disease status
  • Animals from multiple sources of known disease status
  • Single source herds of unknown disease status or in which the disease is known to have occurred.

Those in the highest category of risk are:

  • Animals from multiple sources of unknown disease status or in which the disease is known to have occurred.

There are key practices that should be routinely employed to reduce the risk of disease occurring or spreading on the farm.
Purchasers should:

  • Be aware of which diseases pose the greatest risks.
  • Know what questions to ask of prospective vendors to find out the likelihood of a disease being present (for example, ask for the date and result of the last TB test carried out on the herd in question or encourage the vendors to have a TB test completed prior to purchase).;
  • Consult their veterinary surgeon and develop an overall health plan (this is an opportunity to make a long term plan for incorporation in to the farm management system).
  • Inspect animals, preferably on the farm of origin, before purchase where possible.
  • Keep incoming animals separate from the main herd or flock for an appropriate period (including where animals are acquired from herds certified free of specific diseases). Legislative requirements for separation and isolation exist under the Animal Disease Control Movement Restrictions. Regular careful inspection of segregated livestock should take place throughout the separation period.
  • Preferably purchase directly from the farm of origin and avoid mixing of animals during transportation.
  • Be aware that if you buy in disease you may put your neighbours at risk.

Vendors should:

  • Develop a health plan with their veterinary surgeon.
  • Have information for prospective purchasers on the disease status of the herd supplying animals for sale.
  • Provide details of their latest TB and brucella test or have the herd tested prior to sale.

Hygiene

Biosecurity plans should be part of any herd/flock Health Plan. Good hygiene requires constant effort by all who deal with farm livestock. The following guidelines will help to prevent the spread of animal diseases:

Disinfectants

  • Only approved disinfectants should be used and dispensed in accordance with specified dilution rates and labelling instructions.

People

  • Train staff in the principles of hygiene and disease security.
  • Include signs directing visitors to the farmhouse/office and urging visitors not to feed animals or get in close contact.
  • Reduce the number of visitors to your farm; consider having a farm post box at the end of your drive.
  • Where possible a hard standing area away from livestock should be provided for visitors' vehicles.
  • Keep farmyard and surroundings clean and tidy to discourage vermin.
  • Provide cleaning and disinfectant materials for all visitors/workers.
  • Consider offering protective clothing/footwear.
  •  Wellington boots are the recommended form of footwear on farms because they are easy to clean and disinfect. Use a hand held brush to clean material off the surface and place the boot/sole in the disinfectant solution. Brush away from the face/eyes and avoid contact with the skin. Important: Disinfectant is ineffective if dirt is present, therefore thorough cleaning is necessary before disinfectant is applied.
  • Wash your hands with soap and water after handling livestock.
  • Avoid wearing dirty clothes and footwear off the farm. This is particularly important when visiting markets, shows, farms and other premises where there are livestock.

Buildings, equipment and vehicles

  • Vehicles should be kept clean inside and out.
  • Clean and disinfect vehicles and trailers (preferably with a power hose).
  • Pay attention to areas where dirt may be 'hidden', e.g. wheel arches.
  • Clean and disinfect all shared and hired equipment before and after use.
  • Animals kept indoors should regularly have fresh clean dry bedding added. Used bedding can cause contamination through urine, faeces, blood, etc. and so should be disposed of away from livestock, humans and watercourses.
  • Clean and disinfect buildings and equipment after use by livestock.
  • Used equipment, e.g. disposable clothing, veterinary treatments (such as syringes), should be disposed of safely.

For further information: Cleansing and disinfection of livestock vehicles (links to Defra website) 

Feed and Water

Various diseases can be spread by contaminated feed and water. The risk is reduced by:

  • using mains water wherever possible.
  • have water bowls or drinkers above the level for faecal contamination.
  • avoid contamination of watercourses.
  • clean feed and water troughs regularly.
  • discourage dogs and cats from walking in feed troughs.
  • keep feed in a clean, dry store.
  • keep feed stores covered and shut to ensure no access by dogs, cats, vermin and wildlife.
  • dispose of old or soiled feed safely.
  • Swill feeding is banned (see our Keeping Animals pages)

Separation and isolation

The following points are a basic guide to basic good separation and isolation practice:

  • Keep new animals separate from the rest of your herd/stock until your vet is sure they carry no disease. In many cases 13-20 days depending on animal, will provide sufficient time for disease to become apparent. In other cases, for example brucellosis, incoming breeding heifers may need to be kept apart from the main herd until they have calved normally, up to a year after purchase.
  • Minimise nose to nose contact with neighbouring stock.
  • Have stock proof boundaries.
  • Check boundaries regularly.
  • Prevent animals from straying onto roads.
  • If common grazings are used try to isolate incoming stock before turning them onto common grazings.
  • Keep visitors and their vehicles away from livestock.
  • At the first sign of illness isolate sick animals, with the dam if appropriate, and check all the other animals in the herd/flock etc. Thereafter, handle isolated stock last.
  • Newly born animals are particularly susceptible to disease so make sure that designated calving and lambing areas are regularly cleansed and disinfected.

Slurry Management

Infections can survive in slurry and manure. To reduce the risk:

  • spread on arable land rather than grass for silage making or stock grazing. If this is not possible, allow a 6 week gap between spreading and access by livestock.
  • spread slurry using an inverted spreading plate.
  • avoid using hired or shared spreaders if possible. However, if sharing is unavoidable, ensure spreaders are thoroughly cleansed before coming on your farm and again before leaving.

Traceability and Identification

There are legal requirements for the registration of all livestock and premises, animal identification, breeding and movement records. Rapid traceability is important for effective disease control.
Keepers of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, poultry and farmed deer must be registered and their animals identified in accordance with the law, even if only one animal is kept.

For further information see the Keeping Animals section of this website.

Vehicles and people can spread disease. Veterinary investigations into notifiable disease would be greatly assisted by records of visitors and deliveries.

Safe disposal of fallen stock and animal by-products

Animal by-products (ABPs) are animal carcases, parts of carcases or products of animal origin that are not intended for human consumption. This includes catering waste, used cooking oil, former foodstuffs, butcher and slaughterhouse waste, blood, feathers, wool, hides and skins, fallen stock, pet animals, zoo and circus animals, hunt trophies, manure, ova, embryos and semen.

The law requires that animal by-products shall be identified, collected and transported and disposed of in a safe manner.

For further information see the Animal by-products section.

Guidance for livestock keepers

Guidance for poultry keepers

Guidance for animal gatherings

Cleansing and disinfection

Page last modified: 4 August, 2011