Elizabeth Doughman, editor, WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future: Hello and welcome to WATT Poultry Chat. I'm Elizabeth Doughman, the editor of WATT PoultryUSA and Poultry Future.
This Watt Poultry Chat is brought to you by Neogen. Neogen is committed to fueling a brighter future for global food security through the advancement of human and animal well-being. Harnessing the power of science and technology, Neogen Corporation has developed comprehensive solutions spanning the Food Safety, Livestock and Pet Health & Wellness markets.
A world leader in these fields, Neogen has a presence in over 140 countries with a dedicated network of scientists and technical experts focused on delivering optimized products and technology for its customers. Learn more at https://www.neogen.com/industries/poultry/.
.
Joining us today is Stuart Heller, biosecurity specialist at Neogen Corporation.
Thanks for joining us, Stuart.
Why is having a biosecurity program necessary to poultry producers?
Stuart Heller, biosecurity specialist, Neogen Corporation: I think the basic idea of biosecurity is to create this invisible perimeter around our farms and our hatchery complexes. By doing that, we're just going to assume that everything entering the complex is a potential disease vector or carrier – everything coming into that farm is a threat.
Therefore, we think everything that enters that complex must be treated. That could mean disinfected, dried, clean, whatever terminology we want to use, but we want to prevent the introduction of outside disease. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, transport and service vehicles, personnel working on the farm, visitors, if we have shower and shower out facilities or if we have clean, laundered clothing or disposable boots and coveralls, equipment, incoming supplies, on and on and on.
So why we do that? It's just simple math, right? When a producer loses birds to a disease that they could have prevented, just losing money, if he does a good job in disease prevention techniques, then he can enhance hatchability, lower mortality, reduce stress, enhance performance and eventually enhance the bottom line.
Doughman: Can you discuss measures producers can take when there is a need for increased biosecurity?
Heller: This is kind of a trick question, because I never thought that you could really piecemeal biosecurity. You either do it or you don't, right?
It goes back to that old saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and research clearly shows that large amounts of virus can be shed in very small amounts of organic material. If you step over the boot bath instead of stepping in it; if you're visiting a hatchery, but don't have disposable coveralls and plastic booties; if you don't make sure that your hoops are free of organic material before you disinfect them; then you might be providing that weak link.
In the case of viral outbreaks like HPAI, we recommend what added layers of biosecurity. That could be paying extra attention to boot baths and making sure we're disinfecting truck tires for service vehicles moving farm to farm. We want to be careful about people movement, right? We want to know when the last time you were on another complex before we let you in here. There's some shower in, shower out going on at the very least. We want some kind of hand washing stations, what we call Danish entry systems, just to prevent man from being the basic transmitter of disease.
The tricky part of the question is that we like to think that these added layers should be part of standard operating procedure. We think people should be doing this all the time and not waiting until the disease is on your doorstep. Typically, if you've waited until the disease is there, you've probably waited too long, and then you're in the cutting losses mode, as opposed to improving profitability.
Doughman: What activities can support or eliminate the spread of unwanted disease?
Heller: Elimination is a tough word. Elimination of disease is a tall order, and probably not very realistic. There's just too many disease vectors – too many modes of transmission, air, water, birds, personnel, visitors, vehicles and the list goes on and on and on.
We prefer to talk in terms of prevention and control, and there's no shortage of chemistries to choose from. I've been in the business a long time. I've seen and dealt with many types of chemicals, glute quad combinations, phenol-based disinfectants, peroxides, chlorine, iodine. There’s plenty of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered chemistries to choose from, all relatively effective against tough viruses like avian influenza, infectious bronchitis and plenty of others.
They all have advantages and disadvantages. There's no perfect product out there. I think the thing that we try and make folks understand is that none of these products are magic. There's no black box we hang on the wall, hit the button and everything's taken care of. It's always going to take the combined efforts of good people, good products, good management and that's really what we need to get the job done.
Doughman: Is there any message you want to leave poultry producers with as we conclude this video today?
Heller: I think the important takeaway for us and for producers in general is to remember that biosecurity doesn’t cost, it pays. In the science of biology, prevention is .your best measure against disease
Doughman: Thank you so much for sharing these insights. For more information on the solutions discussed here today, visit Neogen at https://www.neogen.com/industries/poultry/.
Thanks again, Stuart, and thanks to you for tuning in.
