Handling of dead animals: Hydrolysis

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One of the problems that can break the biosecurity of a farm is the system for collecting dead animals. There is a great risk of spreading disease on the farm via carcass collection vehicles which travel from one farm to another. In addition, because they are fresh carcasses, the risk of being potential disease carriers is high.

A very effective alternative is the hydrolysis of carcasses on the farm. The carcass hydrolysis system provides temporary storage of carcasses and byproducts where the spontaneous phenomena of self-hydrolysis occur. The hydrolysis that takes place in carcass is similar to that which occurs in other organic materials that are susceptible to self-destruction.

With these systems, authorized by the EU (Regulation 749/2011 of 29 July 2011), a specific container is required to perform hydrolysis and store the dead animals for 6 months.

With this system the following is achieved:

  • Limits the microbiological load to inside the hydrolyser on the farm, reducing the potential contamination that this product has to other farms.
  • Decrease the number of collections per year. Going from 100-150 times to 4-6 times.
  • Direct transport is made from the farm to the authorized processing plant. The truck arrives at the farm clean from the processing plant and returns without passing through any other farm.
  • The same hydrolyser container is returned empty, clean and disinfected to the farm of origin, reducing the risk of spreading pathogens.

Role of biosecurity in small-scale broiler chicken production

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There are many infectious diseases that can cause mayhem in the poultry industry. And as time passes, we are acknowledging many more causative agents with probably less aggressive pace, but never the less with high overall costs, and not just financial.

The best method to decrease the impact of a different avian infectious agents is to minimize opportunities for pathogens to be transmitted to poultry houses via breeding stock, eggs, personnel or fomites etc. This minimization we call biosecurity – biosecurity is a strategic and integrated approach that encompasses the policy and regulatory frameworks for analysing and managing relevant risks to human, animal and plant life and health, and associated risks to the environment (Hawkes and Ruel. 2006).

In order to implement biosecurity in your poultry farm first follow these easy steps:

  1. You must have a responsible person regarding biosecurity (ideally this person should have previous knowledge regarding biosecurity implementation).
  2. Invest in employee education on biosecurity.
  3. Strictly separate clean area from dirty area, for example hatchery is a clean area but waste collection room is obviously a dirty area. You can mark a border of clean and dirty area.
  4. Change all clothes when entering farm – even if it is just to quickly grab something.
  5. Don’t forget about pests e.g. rats, flies, etc. – keep the farm clean.
  6. Regularly check feed and water.

It is better to start small than quit half way through.

Support the calf to obtain better vaccination results

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Farms specialized in bull calf rearing from a very young age often experience high frequencies of respiratory diseases. Specially during the first month after arrival. Calves are often exposed to radical changes and challenges in this period.

Vaccination could be a useful tool to enhance immunity. In other cases, vaccination seems to weaken the calves and trigger outbreaks of disease, often when calves are stressed. Whenever vaccinating, try to create the best possible conditions for the calf and minimize factors negatively affecting their immunity:

  • Opt for short transport time (max. 1-2 hours) to limit dehydration, hypothermia and exhaustion
  • Avoid mixing calves from different farms on the same truck
  • Insert calves in a clean box
  • Keep calves in small groups – preferably in pairs – at least for the first 6 weeks
  • Avoid mixing calves of different origin in the same box
  • Segregate groups of calves by solid walls or panels
  • Make sure all calves have easy access to fresh water – preferably lukewarm water from a bucket or trough
  • Feed sufficient amounts (minimum 6-7 liters/ day) of good quality milk replacer
  • Start milk feeding on the day of arrival
  • Secure good air quality and avoid draught
  • Avoid moving, mixing, feeding changes and other negative factors 3-4 days before and after vaccination

Intra-nasal vaccines can be applied at the day of arrival. Let other vaccinations wait until the calves are in a positive energy balance (e.g. from 2 weeks after arrival).

Purchasing policy and quarantine of breeding gilts

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What measures can you take to mitigate the risk of disease introduction to your farm when purchasing live breeding stock?

First, try to avoid the purchase of live breeding stock to minimise the risk of introducing diseases through live animals. If you do purchase breeding animals, take the following measures into account:

  • Always buy from the same supplier, to avoid contamination from multiple farm disease profiles. This helps to prevent new diseases being brought in, against which there may not yet be immunity on your farm.
  • Ensure that your supplier has the same or a higher sanitary status than your own farm for the diseases for which (official) control programs exist.
  • Limit the purchasing frequency. The more often animals are purchased and delivered, the higher the chance of disease transmission.
  • Ensure that the vehicles which deliver the animals are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between each delivery so that they do not bring any germs from a previous company onto your farm.
  • Make sure that the gilts are always first housed in a quarantine. If done correctly, the purchased animals can be thoroughly evaluated for disease symptoms, and the necessary vaccinations can be carried out.

A good quarantine:

  • Is an entirely separate air volume (i.e. separated from other stables, both above and below ground).
  • Has a distinct hygiene lock in which you can change footwear and clothing and wash your hands when entering and leaving the stable.
  • Is only refilled after it is completely empty and has been cleaned and disinfected.
  • Should be long enough (at least 28 days recommended). Bear in mind that for some infectious diseases (ex. M. hyopneumoniae) a longer quarantine is necessary. A 40-day quarantine is undoubtedly not a superfluous luxury.

Thermal floor disinfection with a flaming device in poultry barns for better prevention of coccidian and bacterial infections

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Thorough cleaning and disinfection between subsequent production cycles is a key management practice in broiler and turkey farming for disease prevention and lowering the infection pressure in the poultry barn. Still, in floor-housed production systems, the flooring can remain a reservoir of pathogenic organisms. Cracks and holes in the flooring can be difficult spots to thoroughly disinfect and remain a potential hide-out for pathogenic bacteria and coccidian oocysts and worm eggs. The eradication of coccidian oocysts can be especially challenging since these organisms are very persistent and largely unaffected by chemical disinfectants with the exception of ammonia.

An effective disinfection method, proven in practice, is thermal disinfection or disinfection based on radiation. Thermal disinfection is carried out with a machine with a heat of 750°C making contact with the flooring for only a few seconds during which the top layer of the floor gets heated up to 300 to 400°C . The limited contact with the floor prevents damaging the concrete flooring, but effectively kills pathogenic organisms. Some specialized poultry service companies offer this solution and are also able to disinfect the walls of the barn in a similar way, eradicating harmful pathogenic organisms from the poultry barn.

On-farm tractor-mounted flaming devices are available as well and allow for a cost-effective method for poultry barn disinfection.

The prevention and control of mastitis in sheep

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Mastitis is a major a problem in dairy farming, being a threat to animal health and welfare, production efficiency, and product quality. Mastitis is the result of contagious pathogens such as Streptococcus agalactiae, Mycoplasma spp. and Staphylococcus aureus, entering the mammary gland via teat canal, establishing an intramammary infection (IMI) and resulting in an inflammatory reaction. The disease can be in a clinical or subclinical form. 

In the subclinical form; milk production decreases, bacteria are present in the secretion, and composition is altered. Transmission of contagious mastitis pathogens mainly occurs during milking. Bedding is also very closely related to the bacteria exposure of the sheep since teats may be in direct contact with bedding materials which are a  primary source of mastitis causing pathogens. 

Tests have to be used to detect the presence of intra-mammary infections (IMI) either directly (culturing of the causative bacterium) of indirectly (by showing inflammatory response including an elevated somatic cell counts-SCC). 

A vaccination program is recommended to be included in the control of mastitis together with hygiene methods in sheep flocks. Mastitis treatment may contribute to reduced transmission of infection, but antimicrobial treatment of mastitis is not always successful. When treatment fails, removal of the infected animals from the flock, to prevent contagious transmission, may be necessary. 

The implementation of biosecurity measures such as: 

  1. good husbandry and milking practice with regular maintenance of the milking machine, and 
  2. use of post-milking teat disinfection  

can prevent introduction and transmission of mastitis in dairy ruminants, and consequently, reduce antibiotics usage. 

WEBINAR: Principles of Biosecurity and Biocheck.UGent

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We thank Professor Jeroen Dewulf from Ghent University for sharing his expertise.
Here you can find out more about transmission routes, infection pressures and use of the BioCheck tool as a risk-based biosecurity scoring system for individual farms.

Principles of Biosecurity and use of BioCheck website: webinar by Jeroen Dewulf

Enterotoxemia in sheep and lambs

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Enterotoxemia is a frequently severe disease of small ruminants of all ages. It is caused by two strains of bacteria called Clostridium perfringens, type C and D. Type C principally produces the β-toxin, which most commonly kills lambs less than 2 weeks of age. A typical symptom of lambs that die from β-toxin is simply sudden death. Type D principally produces the ε-toxin which affects lambs older than 2 weeks of age, particularly those eating diets high in starch. Lambs exposed to high doses of ε-toxin also die very quickly. Fatalities occur particularly in non-vaccinated animals or in newborn lambs whose mother was not vaccinated.

Vaccination of ewes 3-4 weeks before lambing improves passive protection in lambs up to 12 weeks of age, whereas there is no benefit of vaccinating lambs before 6 weeks of age. Since the causative bacteria proliferate in the intestine in response to ingestion of abnormally high levels of starch, sugar, or protein, there are two alternatives:

  • to divide the daily allotment into as many small feedings as is feasible, or
  • to feed roughages such as hay before feeding these higher-risk feeds.

These good practices, vaccination and Smart feeding strategies, can prevent animal losses and improve their welfare. Prevention of enterotoxemia is far more likely to be successful than trying to treat the disease. Treatment of enterotoxemia may not be successful in severe cases.

Prevention of lameness in dairy herds

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Diseases of the hoof affect the welfare of the animal and require expensive treatments, with negative effects on milk production and reproductive activity. Studies conducted worldwide estimate that the prevalence of laminitis is between 20 and 30%. The dairy cow is expected to produce large amounts of milk, often leading to combined problems of the udder and hooves. The pressure on the cow’s body to produce milk determines a metabolic stress that decrease her immunity.

The main causes of diseases of the hoof in cows are: high stocking densities in the stable; poor quality of the floor on which the cow treads, frequent changes to grouping, excessive energy and protein from the feed ration, and genetics (the problems of the hooves are inherited through breeding).

Several measures can help to prevent hoof diseases in dairy cows, such as: maintaining good hygiene in the shelters, keeping the floors of the barn clean and dry; bathing the hoof of the cows before or after leaving the milking parlour and maintaining the same bath for a period of 2-3 days; periodic trimming, at least 2-3 times a year; feeding rations which are energy and protein balanced during the transition period; reducing the frequency of modifications to the feed rations; and ensuring feeds utilise good quality fats according to nutritional requirements.

In the dry period, the concentrated feed should be reduced, or even eliminated, from the ration, and after calving the inclusion of concentrates should gradually increase. The addition of Zinc to the ration has favourable effects on the skin and the hooves. Furthermore, animal breeding should be directed towards obtaining animals with strong bones, correct statutre and resistance to hoof diseases.

Cleaning and disinfecting on poultry, pig and dairy farms

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Calving, lambing and farrowing are stressful events and potential risks for contaminating the environment livestock are kept in. Bacteria thrive in contaminated environments and can remain protected from routine cleaning under layers of grease and dirt found in sheds, stables and barns.

An animal’s pen should receive a deep, thorough clean AND disinfection regularly. In order to reach and remove all bacteria, it is necessary to clean (e.g. with a detergent) before the disinfection process (i.e. with an antibacterial) takes place. A bacterium under a layer of dirt is not possible to reach otherwise. By using foaming detergents, the protective layer of dirt or organic matter is ‘lifted’, which allows the bacteria to be reached improving the effect of the clean. Selecting a cleaning product for the conditions it is to be used in and allowing it to work for at least half an hour is good practice. A period of drying after cleaning also helps maximize the clean. Refer to the product instructions to ensure the disinfectant is applied at the correct concentration. Leave it on surfaces for the instructed time and then rinse to remove.

This cleaning and disinfection protocol keeps the environment that livestock are kept in as clean as possible. Germs such as bacteria are kept at low levels that do not pose a risk of infection and the use of antibiotics can be reduced.