Making the Best of Down Time
Now with the drop in new cases of HPAI, farms should be reviewing and implementing changes on the farm to become more biosecure before the fall wild bird migration. Some changes to the farm will take little effort or cost but will boost security on the farm.
The first thing to review is your farm biosecurity plan. If you don't have a plan now is the time to make one. The plan would be for your farm where the birds are and how to keep traffic around the birds to a minimum. Mapping the farm and putting in a perimeter buffer as well as a line of separation to the house, will help keep disinfection points on the farm active.
Farm premise ID is also an important consideration. Wherever the birds are situated, a premise identification should be applied. With this identification, the Department of Agriculture will have a better understanding of the farms with poultry in an area and could warn of disease issues in an area if needed. Consult the Department of Agriculture or county extension on how to get these ID's. The PADLS website has a link to this free service.
Consideration should be made to beef up disinfection as you enter poultry housing. A bench entry (Danish Entry) system would add a clean/dirty line to the entrance to the poultry house. If you do not have enough room, consider adding a bump-out addition to the entry room to the house so that there is adequate space to have a clean and dirty side to the entry. Floors should be finished for easy cleaning and disinfection. A small hand sink should be part of this so that hands can be washed before entering the house and washed before leaving.
Accepting packages from several delivery trucks can be a problem. Building a package dropbox that is locked at the end of the lane keeps delivery trucks from entering the farm or houses. Mailboxes should be on the legs of the feed bins for feed delivery tickets.
Lastly, disinfection stations can be placed in the farm lane to disinfect traffic coming onto the farm. This can be battery-powered with a water-holding tank and a small shed to house the equipment. A hose on a hose reel will help keep things tidy. Be sure to have enough hose for a large truck.
By reviewing your plans for your farm, and upgrading you stand a chance to be better prepared. A little effort now will save a lot of trouble in the future.
