Page 144 - Hereford Magazine 2021

Ramping up your Animal health management
• Well-fed, vaccinated animals are better able to fight off
on-farm • Many diseases can be ‘bred out’ through genetics.
disease, including dogs.

• Have an animal health plan – talk to your vet.
biosecurity • Record everything.

People and equipment
• Maintain a register of visitors to the farm.
• Equipment should be cleaned, and if possible disinfected,
before entering the farm.
Biosecurity can be defined as a set of measures • Have the fewest possible entry points to the farm.
designed to prevent the entry, establishment • Keep yards, woolsheds, dog kennels, etc clean and free of
and spread of pests and diseases into a vermin.
country, area or property. At the farm level, this Feed and water
mainly involves preventing pest and disease • Know where bought-in feed comes from and what weeds/
introduction onto the premises, for example, in seeds might come with it.
replacement animals or carried in by visitors, • Never feed ruminants anything from a bag with a warning
and limiting the onward spread of any pest or label that prohibits it.
disease following introduction. • Do not feed dogs uncooked offal.
• Trough water is more likely to be free of liver fluke,
leptospirosis, etc.
On-farm biosecurity can increase farm
profitability Pest control
• Monitor and control animal pests like possums, rats, and
By practising better biosecurity on-farm, farmers can cats, as they can carry diseases like TB, leptospirosis and
reduce or eliminate the impacts of pests and diseases that toxoplasmosis.
are established in New Zealand, whether they have already • Monitor and control weeds and be on the lookout for
reached the property or not. Impacts of disease can include unusual plants.
reduction in on-farm productivity, reduction in the quality • Consider joining forces with neighbours on a pest control
and value of animal products, lower market value of breeding strategy.
animals, the cost of control – often it costs more money and
time to control disease than to prevent it, negative effects on Animal waste and carcass management
animal welfare, and disease in humans. • Identify and remove carcasses as soon as possible to a site
Better on-farm biosecurity also improves New Zealand’s inaccessible to livestock and scavenging animals.
national resilience to an exotic disease, such as foot and • Manage effluent runoff from holding areas.
mouth disease, before it is detectable. The extent of such an • Have a stock rotation policy that doesn’t put young stock at
outbreak may be reduced where good biosecurity practices risk of high parasite intake.
form part of everyday farming practice, rather than being
introduced after the outbreak has started. Shared knowledge and understanding
There are obvious and easy steps every farmer and grower • Ensure all farm staff are part of the biosecurity plan.
can take to minimise the risk of bringing unwanted pests, • Make sure visitors are informed of their responsibilities while
weeds, and diseases onto the farm or spreading them from on the farm.
one farm to another. • Ensure staff know who to contact and what to do if they
encounter a suspected pest or disease.
Clean on – clean off • Make biosecurity practices a part of normal everyday life.
• Get everyone (staff/visitors) to clean their hands, and clean
and disinfect their boots/footwear on arrival and departure. Keep boundaries secure
• Have green areas where visitors and contractors can enter • Maintaining complete and secure boundary fences reduces
and red areas that are out of bounds to everyone without the risk of unwanted animals making contact with your herd,
your permission. and maintains the animal health ‘bubble’ of the farm.
• Check fences regularly and carry out any maintenance
Animal movements and NAIT promptly.
• Ensure you meet all of your NAIT requirements – tag,
register and record every animal.
• Know the health status (vaccination, drenching, fly
treatments, etc) of incoming animals. Information taken from an article by MPI’s chief science advisor,
• Record all animal movements on/off farm (NAIT, ASD forms). John Roche, in The Journal (NZIPIM). Beef + Lamb New Zealand
• Quarantine incoming animals for seven to 14 days. also have great resources on their website www.beeflambnz.com
• Maintain good boundary fences to guard against unintended (use their search box) including a stock movement WOF checklist
animal movements. and biosecurity signs you can use on your farm.

142 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2021