By Richard Smith, Dairy Industry Development Officer
Biosecurity is about managing risks. Each property is different and faces different challenges, so it is critical to assess the biosecurity risks that are most likely to impact your property.
Biosecurity risks can be broken down into the following broad categories: livestock, vehicles, equipment, people, and supplies. The risk impact will change for livestock when they move onto, around, or off your property.
As part of developing a biosecurity management plan, an important step is to conduct a risk assessment and develop an action plan.
A risk assessment is simply the process of identifying a hazard, the consequences of this hazard, and the probability this hazard will happen.
When undertaking the risk assessment, try to determine:
- How severe the risk is
- Whether any existing control measures are effective
- What action you can take to control the risk
- How urgently action needs to be taken
This allows you to target and apply your resources to areas which are likely to achieve the best result.
The next step is an action plan. This converts the risks identified in the risk assessment and outlines the actions you intend to implement on farm to prevent or reduce impacts to your property.
The actions you enact on your property need to be specific and set out how you are going to manage the risk. They need to be practical and achievable with your resources and budget. They also need to relevant to what you produce and how you manage your property.
For example, during your risk assessment, you might determine that visitors could introduce a new disease, pest or weed via their footwear. To manage this risk the action plan may include setting up a boot washing station and purchasing plastic tubs, scrubbing brushes, and some recommended disinfectant. Alternatively, your action might be to purchase boots or gumboots in common sizes for visitors to use around the farm. Both are effective measures to reduce the risk of pests or disease being transferred via mud or dung on footwear from property to property.
Stay tuned for the next article discussing biosecurity management planning as part of our series on biosecurity practices to come out over the following weeks.
