What is Biosecurity?
- Measures taken to reduce the risk and spread of disease at farm level
- On farm, regionally, country, worldwide
- Assessing risk and implementing measures to decrease that risk
Dairy farm biosecurity is integral to maintaining herd welfare and performance as UK farmers work to:
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- Reduce disease incidence
- Reduce antimicrobial usage
- Improve animal welfare
- Reduce resources (time and money) required to tackle disease outbreaks on farm
- Comply to audit standards
Where is disease pressure coming from?
- Boots/Clothing
- Other Stock
- Housing – Hutches/walls/hurdles
- Bedding
- Feeding Utensils
- Vehicles
- Farm visitors
Biosecurity is regularly in the spotlight, with trusted publications like British Dairying Youngstock magazine focusing on the topic by regularly allocating 30% of articles to highlight the importance of improving biosecurity to reduce disease. One farm reduced calf mortality from 4.6% to 1.8% by turning calf unit into a biosecure area.
The Biosecurity Survey
Progenies’ 2021 survey of thousands of UK farmers revealed that 78% of dairy farms had disease pressure in the last two years that required an increase in biosecurity practice.
Johne’s disease is the most prevalent biosecurity hazard for UK dairy farmers, as this chart below shows:
Boot Dips
80% of farms have boot dips
55% of farms don’t require every visitor to use the boot dip
62% of farms only change the boot dip after at least 15 uses.
Easy ways to win
A focus on biosecurity really pays off. Think about reducing the risk of disease coming in and also focus on spread within the farm. What practical simple steps can you take to control disease spread?
Use easy to understand Standard Operating Procedures and record your compliance as you go. Use visualisations, for example like thinking of the milk kitchen needing a food hygiene score as if it was a restaurant – what would you give it?
