- 2 minutes
- Control | Expertise video
- Carmen Alonso García-Mochales
A picture is worth a thousand words (or more!) when it comes to farm biosecurity
Three videos that illustrate how to make an appropriate transition between several key clean and dirty zones.
Disease control continues to be one of the most challenging areas for pig producers and swine veterinarians around the world. Threats such us the entrance of a strain of a virus that is endemic in a region (i.e. PRRS) or the emergence of a highly virulent transboundary disease (i.e ASFV) are important factors that make effective biosecurity one of the number one measures that protect any swine production investment. Developing and maintaining a good herd biosecurity program is crucial to disease control for every farm. This article is the second in a series focussing on the segregation of farm zones. Here we will describe three videos that illustrate how to make an appropriate transition between several key clean and dirty zones. In each of the videos, dirty zones will be displayed by the colour grey, clean zones will be displayed by the colour white, and the colour red will indicate a potential contamination event.
Load-outs
Loading pigs for transport to market can be as stressful for the pigs as it is for their handlers. Poorly designed loading facilities increase the incidence of handler intervention, stress for the animals and people, longer loading times, and from the biosecurity perspective, a higher chance to make mistakes. In second video, a potentially contaminated truck arrives to the farm load-out area. Truck driver and farmer stand in their positions at both sides of the dirty/clean boundaries that are indicated with a vertical line. The farmer stays in the clean side of the load out and sends the pigs to the truck while the trucker remains at the other side and receives the pigs. A well-designed load out will allow the pigs to move easily in the correct direction with minimum intervention. Preventing the movement of animals and people back and forward between clean and dirty zones will avoid a cross over of traffic and will minimize the risk of contamination from the truck to the farm.
Originally published on pig333.com