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Prevent infection  –  Food animals

Interventions

This section provides examples and resources to support interventions to improve animal health and reduction of antibiotic use on farms.

Interventions must always be adapted to context, as needs and priorities vary between farms, regions and countries.

Resources below have been separated into the following tables:

  • General
  • Poultry
  • Pigs
  • Cattle/ruminants
  • Aquaculture

Educational resources can be found in RAISE AWARENESS – Education and training (Food production).

Selected Resources

General

Resource Description
FarmBiosecurity Information, tools and manuals. Provides concrete recommendations on how to implement sound biosecurity practices, for example you can create your own biosecurity kit. Also see Farm inputs for recommendations on water, feed and safe introduction of new animals, and People, vehicles and equipment for how to minimize disease transmission during movements at farms. Multiple animal species, Australian setting.
Biocheck.UGent Tool. Biocheck.UGent is a scoring tool to evaluate the quality of on-farm biosecurity. Provides a personalized report. Available in several languages including Chinese, French, Spanish and Vietnamese (Ghent University). Pigs, poultry and cattle.
Where There is No Vet Guide for farmers to aid them to keep their animals healthy. Has informative chapters with hands-on tips on disease prevention and also good information on how medicine should be labelled.
The Swedish experience – a summary on the Swedish efforts towards a low and prudent use of antibiotics in animal production Country example. This report summarizes how Sweden has managed to have one of the world’s lowest use of antibiotics in food-producing animals. Includes descriptions of important success factors and lessons learned.

Poultry

Resource Description
Poultry biosecurity and disease prevention toolkit Toolkit from React to support good biosecurity and disease prevention practices among small and medium scale poultry farmers in low resource settings. Includes a Facilitator’s manual for conducting sessions with farmers, materials to facilitate discussions, and tools to help farmers improve water, sanitation and biosecurity on their farms, and help reduce unnecessary antibiotic use. See Poultry Toolkit Description for an overview of all components.
Improvement of Biosecurity and Production Practices in Hatcheries and Parent Flocks (PDF) Intervention. Description of biosecurity work in small scale Vietnamese farms. Provides detailed descriptions on biosecurity measures that facilitate actions in other settings. See also fact sheet here (PDF) on how simple biosecurity measures can change a farmer’s life.
Biosecurity guide for live poultry markets (PDF 5,2MB) Manual from FAO produced for live poultry market managers. Provides practical options for improving the hygiene and biosecurity at markets. Also Available in Chinese (simplified) and French.

Pigs

Resource Description
Pig management: Ensuring appropriate husbandry practices for profitability -Uganda smallholder pig value chain capacity development training manual Training manual that outlines the training of smallholder farmers to improve biosecurity and practices in their farms to prevent infectious diseases and thus the need for use of veterinary drugs. Describes training sessions and includes exercises and handouts.
Good practices for biosecurity in the pig sector – Issues and options in developing and
transition countries
Guidance from FAO that outlines possible biosecurity measures for different pig production systems, from small to large scale. See specifically section 4 (tables list measures and feasibility in different systems), and Annex 1 an 2 (more details on the selected biosecurity measures).

Cattle/ruminants

Resource Description
Biosecurity Information Leaflets Information leaflets from Animal Health Ireland that  provides science-based, practical advice on disease prevention and control for easy implementation on farms.
Guide to good dairy farming practice Manual by FAO and International Dairy Federation. Gives dairy farmers proactive guidance on how to reach good dairy farming practice on their farm.

Aquaculture

Resource Description
Improving biosecurity through prudent and responsible use of veterinary medicines in aquatic food production Report from FAO that discusses the use of veterinary medicines in aquaculture. Gives examples of good practice and disease prevention measures based on different country interventions.
Review of alternatives to antibiotic use in aquaculture Review article that describes the methods for avoiding infections and minimising the use of antibiotics in aquaculture production.

More from "Food animals"

1.
Bondad‐Reantaso, M. G. et al. Review of alternatives to antibiotic use in aquaculture. Reviews in Aquaculture raq.12786 (2023) http://doi.org/10.1111/raq.12786.
1.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAO, World Organisation for animal health - WOAH & World Bank. Good practices for biosecurity in the pig sector - Issues and options in developing and transition countries. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper (2010).
1.
Animal Health Ireland. Biosecurity Information Leaflets. https://animalhealthireland.ie/programmes/biosecurity/.
1.
ReAct Asia Pacific, COHEART Institute & Quicksand Design Studio. Poultry toolkit. Preprint at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O0FLs3yd9PWP3tUbXgn6B5JuCQA36NKX/view?usp=sharing (2021).
1.
Grundin, J., Blanco Penedo, I., Fall, N. & Sternberg Lewerin, S. ”The Swedish experience” – a summary on the Swedish efforts towards a low and prudent use of antibiotics in animal production. https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/17781/ (2020).
1.
Mayega, L., Dione, M. M., Kawuma, B., Brandes-van Dorresteijn, D. & Smith, J. Pig management: Ensuring appropriate husbandry practices for profitability -Uganda smallholder pig value chain capacity development training manual. (International Livestock Research Institute, 2015).
1.
the Veterinary Epidemiology Unit of Ghent University & Flemish Animal Health Organization. Biocheck. http://www.biocheck.ugent.be/index.php?
1.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation - FAO. Improvement of Biosecurity and Production Practices in Hatcheries and parent Flocks. http://www.fao.org/3/a-bb033e.pdf.
1.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAO. Biosecurity guide for live poultry markets. (2015).
1.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAO & International Dairy Federation. Guide to good dairy farming practice. Animal Production and Health Guidelines vol. 8 (2011).
1.
Animal Health Australia & Plant Health Australia. Farm Biosecurity. http://www.farmbiosecurity.com.au/.
1.
Improving biosecurity through prudent and responsible use of veterinary medicines in aquatic food production. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2012).
1.
Forse, B. Where There is No Vet. Policy & Practice (1999).