Lisa Bulcock our Assistant Animal Health and Welfare Adviser reports back after attending the roadshow in Telford on Friday 25th November 2016.
She writes:
Avian Infuenza (AI) is the largest threat to both the UK and global poultry industry. The four cases in the UK since November 2014 have cost the poultry industry over £100 million. With the UK currently on medium risk alert, the aim of the roadshows is to heighten the awareness of AI and to get poultry farmers to really think about the disease and produce a contingency plan specific to their farms.
In my opinion, there were two really important topics which were of most value to the day - biosecurity and contingency planning.
Dr Adrian Knoetze, a specialist poultry vet, discussed biosecurity and that it isn’t what it looks like but how it is done. Good biosecurity procedures are the foundations of disease management and basic measures do not need to be expensive. Simple processes such as having different boots for each shed and regular replenishment of foot dips – even making sure items such as mobile phones are cleaned or not taken into poultry housing are necessary. Hand washing between sheds and tasks can reduce the risk of spreading disease between sheds too; soap and water is infinitely better than just a hand gel. Farmers also need to be aware of ‘backyard’ poultry flocks in their surrounding areas as these can pose a risk.
Julian Sparrey from Livetec discussed how important contingency planning is when dealing with an outbreak of AI. I could discuss this with you for hours, but there is so much important information. Here at the NFU we’ve also put together a guide for contingency planning, the core info is there but also prompts you to think about the practicalities and restrictions if you’re caught up in a zone or are a traced premises. You can download the guide here.
Preparing and putting procedures in place will make the process of an outbreak run as smoothly as possible. His top tips include: finding out who has poultry in your surrounding area and lost their names and addresses – this will save APHA visiting your neighbours in the zone; which can be very time consuming. Keep a log of every visitor who comes onto the farm: who are they, where have they come from, what was the purpose of the visit, where did they visit on the farm. Again all simple and minor tasks which could save you so much time in the occurrence of an AI outbreak. Keep a key contacts list with contacts, such as APHA, the Environment Agency and of course, for members, the NFU specialist adviser team.
On a final note, it is extremely stressful for those involved in an outbreak. In some cases it could take up to 12-18 months from the initial outbreak to restrictions being lifted and the farm allowed to trade again. This is why farm specific biosecurity is needed to reduce the disease risk to your poultry flocks but should you be unfortunate enough to get AI on your farm, you’ll need your contingency planning to help cope through the outbreak.
I would advise all poultry farmers to attend one of the remaining roadshows; you can book your place here.