Buckling down on biosecurity
"Practicing good biosecurity is like trying to lose weight," a veterinarian once told Poultry Health Today. "It sounds simple, but it's not that easy." For this special report, our editors talked with disease experts about what poultry companies can do to buckle down on biosecurity and protect their flocks from infectious diseases.
9 May 2018
3 minute read
By: There are nine sections in this series on biosecurity, which you can find here.
Commercial and backyard poultry production: Bringing two worlds together for better biosecurity.
Tom Tabler, PhD
"The poultry world is made up of two very distinct sides. One is the multibillion-dollar commercial poultry industry that supplies high-quality, reasonably priced protein to the US and much of the rest of the world. The other side is the increasingly popular backyard segment found in both rural and urban areas, where small numbers of chickens are kept for meat, eggs, entertainment, exhibition and youth projects..."
Biosecurity in poultry production: What makes it work - and what doesnt
Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt, DMV, MSc, PhD
"Over the past several years, the US poultry industry has been challenged by emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. In fact, every year since the 1970s, we have on average identified one new disease or a more virulent strain of a known disease..."
Avian influenza viruses can persist in footbaths and manure
Dr Rudiger Hauck
"Growers shouldn’t assume the disinfectants they use in footbaths are effective against avian influenza (AI), indicates a study from the University of California–Davis..."
Breaches in biosecurity: Sanderson Farms vet shares three valuable lessons
Philip A. Stayer, DVM
"Biosecurity needs to take its rightful place as a top priority for poultry producers in light of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that’s currently affecting U.S. commercial poultry flocks..."
Site-specific biosecurity key to disease protection
"Egg producers are being urged to not adopt a “one size fits all” approach to biosecurity in a bid to keep avian influenza (AI) away from their flocks this winter..."
Biosecurity: ‘It doesn’t have to be boring’
What comes to mind when you hear the word “biosecurity”?
"Even though it’s a critically important subject, many poultry producers tune it out — for the simple reason that it bores them, said Nathaniel Tablante, DVM, a professor and poultry veterinarian at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine Extension..."
Lapses in biosecurity: Veterinarian urges poultry companies to avoid these mistakes
"Biosecurity needs to be approached as a comprehensive process, not as a series of segregated actions, according to Jean Sander, DVM, senior technical services veterinarian for Zoetis..."
Video provides practical biosecurity tips for poultry
"A training video that provides practical biosecurity tips for protecting commercial poultry flocks from avian influenza and other infectious diseases has been developed by the University of Maryland and the USDA National Institute of Food & Agriculture..."
Hatchery expert offers tips for fighting bacteria, improving biosecurity
"With more US poultry companies reducing or eliminating antibiotic use in the hatchery, poultry companies need to make an even greater effort to guard against costly bacterial infections..."
Ryan Johnson
Ryan worked in conservation from 2008 to 2017, during which time he operated a rainbow trout hatchery and helped to maintain public and protected green spaces in Canada for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. As editor of The Poultry Site, he now writes about challenges and opportunities in agriculture across the globe.
