You handle what you measure. With regards to transport biosecurity, measuring its implementation with Farm Well being Guardian (FHG) know-how has seen outcomes. Plus, real-time suggestions by biosecurity breach alerts is proven to enormously enhance compliance by personnel.
Transport biosecurity issues
Vehicles and different automobiles are a most important wrongdoer within the transmission of farm animal illness, notably within the swine business. Analysis confirms this.
Dr. Derald Holtkamp and a crew of researchers at Iowa State College reviewed infections of PRRSV, PEDV and porcine deltacoronovirus (PDCoV) at growing-pig websites and noticed a detailed hyperlink between motion occasions and outbreaks, pointing to important biosecurity gaps in livestock transportation[1].
They recognized that the frequency of motion occasions (deliveries, upkeep, and so forth.) intently corresponded to an infection in each the nursery and ending phases.
“The timing of the breaks within the finisher section for PRRSV have been often related to the timing of pig motion occasions from the nursery to ending section websites,” mentioned Dr. Holtkamp.
Not all GPS gadgets are created equal
With real-time motion monitoring for vehicles and trailers, Farm Well being Guardian software program helps shut the gaps in transport biosecurity. A geofence, or digital perimeter, is positioned round a farm property. The software program is both linked to an present fleet monitoring system or GPS models are put in on trailers and different automobiles.
Collaborating with Saskatchewan Pork[2], FHG undertook a analysis challenge to find out the GPS gadgets that may carry out the most effective below the situations in swine manufacturing settings.
A complete of three,172 visits to farm properties have been recorded by FHG software program through the 10-month challenge in 2022 and 2023. Visits per day to geofenced properties averaged 10.3 visits, with essentially the most frequented places being feed mills and truck washes.
A key takeaway was that not all GPS gadgets are created equal when subjected the rigours or necessities of use in an agricultural setting.
Of the applied sciences examined, three GPS gadgets (two wired or powered, one totally battery powered) confirmed dependable efficiency. Based mostly on our analysis, our main advice is a GPS brake mild.
Measure biosecurity to handle it
A subsequent step for FHG was growing Biosecurity Breach Alerts for vehicles and trailers. The FHG software program may be configured to observe a manufacturing system’s biosecurity protocols and ship alerts if these protocols are breached. For instance, go to order or truck wash necessities.
A number of main swine integrators within the US Midwest piloted the FHG breach alerts characteristic. They discovered that truck and trailer biosecurity breaches occur extra usually than they anticipated (Determine 1).
Actual-time suggestions enormously improves biosecurity compliance
As well as, the flexibility to visualise the info and utilizing know-how to observe biosecurity implementation made personnel extra conscious and cautious of what they have been doing. Determine 2 reveals breaches per week, with a definite general downward pattern displaying improved compliance. Digitizing biosecurity allowed the info to be visualized, leading to improved compliance with protocols and stronger biosecurity.
For extra data, go to www.farmhealthguardian.com.
[1] https://farmhealthguardian.com/research-shows-gaps-in-wean-to-finish-biosecurity/
[2] With funding from Canadian Agri-food Automation and Intelligence Community
