Introduction

Effective Biosecurity

Disease challenge

Benefits of Biosecurity

Introduction

Biosecurity means taking steps to ensure good hygiene practices are in place so that the risk of a disease occurring or spreading is minimized. By reducing contact with infected people or animal we can reduce chance of catching or spreading disease. These biosecurity procedures are practical measures to limit the spread of infectious diseases and pests both within a farm and from one farm to other farm.

Effective Biosecurity

Effective biosecurity should be practiced all the times, not just during a disease outbreak. Taking the right measures can help protect the birds, the industry, community and the country.

Prevention Is Better Than Cure

Preventing diseases from entering farms is crucial. The cost benefit of a bio-security system depends on the type of production, system and the disease. Many inexpensive systems can generate substantial benefit. Sometimes the routine practices that take for granted are actually serious breeches of bio-security.

Therefore, biosecurity should be viewed as a part of the solution potentially reducing the dependency on extensive medications.

Disease Challenge

Common infectious diseases of poultry such as AI, ND, IBD, Marek's disease etc. pose a constant challenge to the poultry producers worldwide and can result in poor flock performance. Biosecurity is also the best form of defense against emergency diseases. The recent outbreak of AI in other countries focused attention on large economic risks associated with disease outbreak.

Better farm biosecurity can improve overall flock health, cut the costs of disease, reduce losses and improve farm profitability.
There are several different types of germs that are often referred to as disease agents of pathogens. They include viruses, bacteria, and fungi. In addition, parasites, found internally (inside the body) and externally (outside the body), can also cause disease. The control of these parasites is considered an important part of biosecurity program.

Longevity of Disease causing Organisms

Many infectious viruses have the life span from weeks to months, away from the birds, which poses a great threat to the poultry industry. For eg., life span of the AI virus is max. of 90 days in the fecal material.

Below mentioned are the lifespan of the disease causing organisms away from the bird :

Table 1 : Longevity of the disease causing organisms

Biosecurity -The team work

Protecting poultry flocks from microorganisms, contamination is an extremely important component of commercial poultry production environment. The introduction of highly pathogenic contagious disease organism into poultry flocks could result in serious economic consequences for poultry production.
The effectiveness of biosecurity program can be optimized by group of activities of all the farmers in that area.
While any level of biosecurity is helpful, if all poultry producers in a given area utilize best management programs, the program as a whole will be more effective.

Benefits of Biosecurity

• Limits the occurrence and spread of diseases and helps to protects the poultry flocks and community
• Helps to keep out infectious poultry diseases such as Avian Influenza, New Castle disease, IBD, MD, etc.
• Reduces the risk of Pathogens such as Salmonella.
• Improves overall flock performance
• Cuts cost of disease treatment and reduces losses which could improve farm profitability.

Infectious diseases can be spread by

• Introduction of diseased birds
• Introduction of healthy birds who have recovered from disease but are now carriers
• Shoes and clothing of visitors or caretakers who move from flock to flock
• Contact with inanimate objects (fomites) that are contaminated with disease organisms
• Carcasses of dead birds that have not been disposed of properly
• Impure water, such as surface drainage water
• Rodents, wild animals and free-flying birds
• Insects
• Contaminated feed and feed bags
• Contaminated delivery trucks, egg trays
• Contaminated premises through soil or old litter
• Air-borne Fomites
• Egg transmission
• By following these biosecurity recommendations, you can ensure that exposure to disease-causing agents can be minimized. By reducing the exposure to disease agents, you can prevent disease from occurring in your flock.

KEEP YOUR FARM CLEAN

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Don't bring infection onto your farm, or spread it around your farm, on yours clothes, footwear or hands. Limit visitors and restrict their direct contact with the flock.

• If you are adding new birds to your flock, have them quarantined in separate area from your main flock for at least two weeks.
• Strictly limit and control access to poultry flocks. If possible the site should be fenced with a controlled entry point.
• Have pressure washers, brushes, hoses, water and an proven disinfectant available.
• Clean and disinfect all vehicles after each journey. Regularly clean and disinfect all crates, containers and other equipment before and after use.
• Keep farm access routes, parking areas, yards, areas around buildings and storage areas clean and tidy and well maintained. This helps avoid wild birds and animals being in contact with the flock.
• Obtain your birds from a disease-free source. Know the history of the flock by inquiring about past diseases in the parent flock and also the vaccine history of both the parents and newly hatched birds.
• Keep free-living birds and mammals away from your flock as they may transmit disease agents to your flock of birds.
• Prevent accumulation of standing water and remove spilled feed that could attract wild birds. Maintain buildings to ensure that wild birds do not nest or roost in them. Keep wild birds, dogs, cats rodents or other livestock out of poultry building and feed stores.
• Have an active rodent and pest control system in place.
• Obtain feed from a clean dependable source. Store feed so that it is bird-proof, insect-proof, and rodent-proof. Obtain water from a clean source so it is free from potential contamination.
• Feed bins, hoppers and feeding equipment must be cleaned and maintained regularly. Feed silos and containers must be periodically checked.
• Damaged eggs, dead birds, litter and manure may carry disease. Dispose them promptly and properly.
• At removal of the bird thoroughly clean the building and all equipments, including feeders, waterer, etc. Remove all surplus feed, dead birds and litter. Disinfect the complete shed before next replacement.
• Ideally, it would be best to keep your pets away from the flock to prevent possible disease transmission.

Restrict the entry

Visitors - Only visitors essential to the farm's business should be permitted entry. The farm site (the immediate shed area) should have a perimeter fence. All visitors should enter via a single point where they sign a visitors' book and are issued with clean protective boots and clothes for use only on the poultry farm. Visitors likely to have been exposed to poultry or birds within 24 hours should not be permitted to enter sheds unless they shower and change clothes.

Staff - Employees should be aware of the risks entailed in off-site contact with other birds. Unless approved by management, staff should have no contact with any other avian species of keep birds of any type at home. Rules for staff entry to sheds should be similar to the rules for visitors, except that staff need not be required to sign the visitor movement record. Staff should not wear “clean” clothing in “dirty” areas. In multi-age systems, staff movements between sheds should be planned and staff should move from younger to older birds through the day, changing protective clothing between sheds/age groups.

Service personnel - who make multiple farm visits on a single day, should plan visits carefully and move from sites of lower biosecurity risk( ie; from their home, younger birds or healthy farm/shed) to sites of higher risk. Protective clothing must be worn (including headwear) and changed between each site/shed. Hands should be washed between sites/sheds and after handling sick birds, which were possible, should be visited last.

Staff Training

Staff should be trained to recognize signs of disease and to promptly report any unusual signs or explained deaths. Mortality and disease records must be kept. Increased mortality, falling egg production and respiratory signs may be early indicators of a disease problem. If something unusual or unexpected happens and infectious diseases is suspected, veterinary advice should be sought as soon as possible. Rapid recognition of abnormal disease patterns is extremely important and will lead to prompt diagnosis and efficient management of any emergency disease.

Dead Bird Disposal

Disposal of dead birds on the farm continues to be a challenge from the standpoint of cost, environmental safety, biosecurity and practicality. Even though the disposal of dead birds will be a relatively small amount each day, the dead birds should be disposed as early as possible (within 24 hrs.).
Some of the commonly used disposal methods followed world wide are:

Burial

Burial has been the method of choice for years because of its low cost and convenience. A deep pit with inside framing and a tight-fitting cover can be constructed, or an open trench can be progressively filled as birds die

Incineration

Incineration is probably the most biologically safe method of disposal. It creates only a small amount of waste that can be easily disposed of and does not attract pests

Rendering

The rendering option allows removal of carcasses from the farm and eliminates environmental pollution possibilities while recycling a troublesome waste material into a good feed ingredient. Renderers have been cooking, hydrolyzing and pressing processing plant wastes into by-product meal, feather meal and fat for years. The three major concerns related to this method of disposal are biosecurity, proper feather breakdown and a suitable on-farm storage method to reduce transportation cost.

Points to remember
1. Biosecurity is complete only when Disinfection, Vaccination & Medication are strictly followed at the right time.
2. Biosecurity is a comprehensive practice to be implemented on a daily basis to reduce the risk of transmission of disease onto and between poultry farms.
3. Practicing sound biosecurity procedures every day as part of a best management program will reduce the economic loss & increase the productivity.
4. Needless to say, all individuals or groups who directly or indirectly deal with poultry have the potential to spread disease and should therefore be constantly reminded about the importance of biosecurity.

BIOSECURITY - Stitch in time saves nine

• Avian Influenza (AI)
• New Castle Disease (ND)
• Chicken Anaemia Virus (CAV)
• Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD)
• Marek's Disease (MD)
• Salmonella
• Coryza
• Chronic Respiratory Disease (CRD)
• E-coli