Risk assessment as a tool for improving external biosecurity at farm level

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Abstract

Background

Biosecurity routines at herd level may reduce the probability of introduction of disease into the herd, but some measures may be regarded as expensive and cumbersome for the farmers. Custom-made measures based on individual farm characteristics may aid in improving the actual application of on-farm biosecurity.

The aim of the study was to provide a tool for calculating the effects of different biosecurity measures and strategies on the individual farm level.

A simple model was developed to assess the risk of disease introduction and the need for biosecurity measures in individual farms. To illustrate the general applicability of the tool, it was applied to theoretical examples of Swedish cattle and pig farms and diseases endemic in those animal species in the EU, in two scenarios with different between-farm contact patterns.

Results

The model illustrated that the most important factors affecting the risk, and the effect of biosecurity measures such as quarantine routines and protective clothing, were the frequency of between-farm contacts and prevalence of the disease. The risk of introduction as well as the effect of biosecurity measures differed between farm types and disease transmission routes. Adapting contact patterns to mitigate a specific disease risk was as important as biosecurity measures for some farm types, but the largest effect was seen when combining biosecurity measures with more planned contact patterns.

Conclusions

The risk assessment model proved useful for illustrating the risk of introduction of endemic diseases and the mitigating effect of different biosecurity measures on farm level. Model outputs could be used to justify prioritisation of measures or adapting contact patterns. The theoretic exercise of adjusting model inputs and comparing outputs may help veterinary advisors to understand farm-specific risks and motivate farmers to improve biosecurity in their individual farm, as it can be tailored to each farmer’s needs and preferences.

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Most cited references 36

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An exploration of the drivers to bio-security collective action among a sample of UK cattle and sheep farmers.

Claire Heffernan, Louise A. Nielsen, Kim Thomson … (2008)

At present, collective action regarding bio-security among UK cattle and sheep farmers is rare. Despite the occurrence of catastrophic livestock diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and foot and mouth disease (FMD), within recent decades, there are few national or local farmer-led animal health schemes. To explore the reasons for this apparent lack of interest, we utilised a socio-psychological approach to disaggregate the cognitive, emotive and contextual factors driving bio-security behaviour among cattle and sheep farmers in the United Kingdom (UK). In total, we interviewed 121 farmers in South-West England and Wales. The main analytical tools included a content, cluster and logistic regression analysis. The results of the content analysis illustrated apparent 'dissonance' between bio-security attitudes and behaviour.(1) Despite the heavy toll animal disease has taken on the agricultural economy, most study participants were dismissive of the many measures associated with bio-security. Justification for this lack of interest was largely framed in relation to the collective attribution or blame for the disease threats themselves. Indeed, epidemic diseases were largely related to external actors and agents. Reasons for outbreaks included inadequate border control, in tandem with ineffective policies and regulations. Conversely, endemic livestock disease was viewed as a problem for 'bad' farmers and not an issue for those individuals who managed their stock well. As such, there was little utility in forming groups to address what was largely perceived as an individual problem. Further, we found that attitudes toward bio-security did not appear to be influenced by any particular source of information per se. While strong negative attitudes were found toward specific sources of bio-security information, e.g. government leaflets, these appear to simply reflect widely held beliefs. In relation to actual bio-security behaviours, the logistic regression analysis revealed no significant difference between in-scheme and out of scheme farmers. We concluded that in order to support collective action with regard to bio-security, messages need to be reframed and delivered from a neutral source. Efforts to support group formation must also recognise and address the issues relating to perceptions of social connectedness among the communities involved.

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Pig, cattle and poultry farmers with a known interest in research have comparable perspectives on disease prevention and on-farm biosecurity.

M Laanen, D. Maes, C. Hendriksen … (2014)

To motivate farmers for the implementation of preventive measures for animal health, it is crucial to understand their perspective on disease prevention and on-farm biosecurity. To study this, an online questionnaire was conducted in which 218 pig, 279 cattle and 61 poultry farmers in Flanders, Belgium have participated. The participants are farmers known for their interest in research and are therefore probably better informed on these topics. Although approximately half of the respondents in all three sectors are convinced of the positive effect of biosecurity on reduction of diseases at their farms, the farmers estimated their own level of knowledge on biosecurity as being rather low. Less than 10% of the farmers in all three sectors were able to give a correct explanation of the term 'biosecurity', even though the participants are likely to be better informed than the average farmer. In general, pig, cattle and poultry farmers share comparable ideas on disease prevention and biosecurity. Cattle farmers perceived animal welfare as more important. Pig farmers indicated stability of the farm more important than farmers in the other sectors. Farmers indicate that little to no barriers are present for taking preventive measures. The often observed absence or limited implementation of biosecurity and disease prevention measures is therefore likely due to insufficient motivation. Across the species, farmers indicate that insufficient information on costs and especially revenues is a major holdback for investments in preventive measures. Not surprisingly, more information on the economic benefits of measures is indicated as the primary interest for taking measures in disease prevention. The veterinarian is seen as the main source of information concerning disease prevention and biosecurity, so it is important that veterinarians have sufficient knowledge on these topics and are able to communicate this to farmers. Especially since farmers indicate that receiving more explanation by the herd veterinarian increases their interest substantially in disease prevention. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Danish dairy farmers' perception of biosecurity.

Erling Kristensen, Esben Jakobsen (2011)

To implement biosecurity measures at farm-level is a motivational challenge to dairy farmers as emerging diseases and their consequences largely are unpredictable. One of the reasons for this challenge is that outcomes are more likely to benefit society than the individual farmer. From the individual farmer's point of view the impacts of zoonotic risk, international trade and welfare concerns appear less obvious than the direct costs at farm-level. Consequently, a social dilemma may arise where collective interests are at odds with private interests. To improve biosecurity at farm-level farmers must be motivated to change behavior in the 'right' direction which could provide selfish farmers with unintended possibilities to exploit the level of biosecurity provided by other dairy farmers' collective actions. Farmers' perception of risk of disease introduction into a dairy herd was explored by means of Q-methodology. Participating farmers owned very large dairy herds and were selected for this study because Danish legislation since 2008 has required that larger farms develop and implement a farm specific biosecurity plan. However, a year from introduction of this requirement, none of the participating farmers had developed a biosecurity plan. Farmers' perception of biosecurity could meaningfully be described by four families of perspectives, labeled: cooperatives; confused; defectors, and introvert. Interestingly, all families of perspectives agreed that sourcing of animals from established dealers represented the highest risk to biosecurity at farm-level. Farmers and policy-makers are faced with important questions about biosecurity at farm-level related to the sanctioning system within the contextual framework of social dilemmas. To solve these challenges we propose the development of a market-mediated system to (1) reduce the risk of free-riders, and (2) provide farmers with incentives to improve biosecurity at farm-level. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Susanna Sternberg Lewerin: +4618673192 , susanna.sternberg-lewerin@slu.se

Julia Österberg: julia.osterberg@sva.se

Stefan Alenius: stefan.alenius@slu.se

Marianne Elvander: marianne.elvander@sva.se

Claes Fellström: claes.fellstrom@slu.se

Madeleine Tråvén: madeleine.traven@slu.se

Per Wallgren: per.wallgren@sva.se

Karin Persson Waller: karin.persson-waller@sva.se

Magdalena Jacobson: magdalena.jacobsson@slu.se

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Vet Res

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Vet. Res

Title: BMC Veterinary Research

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1746-6148

Publication date (Electronic): 28 July 2015

Publication date PMC-release: 28 July 2015

Publication date Collection: 2015

Volume: 11

Electronic Location Identifier: 171

Affiliations

[ ]Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7036, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden

[ ]National Veterinary Institute, 75189 Uppsala, Sweden

[ ]Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7054, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden

Article

Publisher ID: 477

DOI: 10.1186/s12917-015-0477-7

PMC ID: 4515931

PubMed ID: 26215281

SO-VID: 10c89a5f-d4b5-4b00-9c24-bb2e3976ea68

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 20 March 2015

Date accepted : 13 July 2015

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Veterinary medicine

Keywords: on-farm biosecurity,risk assessment,infectious disease,livestock,disease introduction,model

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Veterinary medicine

Keywords: on-farm biosecurity, risk assessment, infectious disease, livestock, disease introduction, model

Risk assessment as a tool for improving external biosecurity at farm level

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Horses and Humans Research Foundation

Most cited references 36

An exploration of the drivers to bio-security collective action among a sample of UK cattle and sheep farmers.

Pig, cattle and poultry farmers with a known interest in research have comparable perspectives on disease prevention and on-farm biosecurity.

Danish dairy farmers' perception of biosecurity.

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