Pilot study assessing the possible benefits of a higher level of implementation of biosecurity measures on farm productivity and health status in Belgian cattle farms

Abstract

Over the last few years, the interest of decision‐makers and control agencies in biosecurity (BS), aiming at preventing and controlling the introduction and spread of infectious diseases, has considerably increased. Nevertheless, previous studies highlighted a low implementation level of biosecurity measures (BSM), especially in cattle farms; different reasons were identified such as perceived costs, utility, importance, increased workload and lack of knowledge. In order to convince cattle farmers to adopt BSM, it is necessary to gather more information and evidence on their cost‐effectiveness and their importance or utility in terms of disease prevention and control. The objectives of this study were to determine whether the farm or farmers’ profile correlated with the implementation level of BSM and if there was a positive correlation between the BSM implementation and the farm production and health parameters. Data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews conducted in 100 Belgian farms as part of a stratified and randomized survey. The Regional Animal Health Services provided the farm health status and production data. A general BS score and five sub‐scores related to the five BS compartments (bio‐exclusion, bio‐compartmentation, bio‐containment, bio‐prevention and bio‐preservation) were calculated for each farm based on the implementation level of different BSM grouped in 16 domains. The study highlighted a significant and negative correlation between the mortality rates in adult cattle (over 24 months of age) and young calves (aged 0–7 days) and different BS compartment scores. The study also demonstrated that the farms having a higher general BS score were indeed more likely to have a BVD‐free status. These evidence‐based findings are encouraging as they demonstrate the benefits of implementing BSM and could promote their adoption by farmers.

Evaluation Survey on Agreement with Existing Definitions of Biosecurity with a Focus on Livestock

“…To initiate this process, we designed and implemented an initial cross-sectional survey with eight existing definitions of biosecurity. Several methods to obtain consensus on definitions exist, such as Delphi, Nominal Group, and models developed by the National Institutes of Health and Glaser (e.g., [11,20]). Each method needs time and has advantages and disadvantages in comparison to others (for a review, see [20,21]).…”

“…In order to capture other new dimensions to integrate in the biosecurity concept, it is also important to consider not only the definition of livestock biosecurity, but to open the door for wider definitions related to biosecurity in general. Recent opinion/review papers suggest a more unified concept of biosecurity to integrate human, animal, plant, and environmental health [10,11].…”

From Biosecurity to Security Ecologies: An Analysis between Old Dairy Farming Traditions and Routines and Veterinary Recommendations in Spain

“…Biosecurity can therefore reduce mortality (Renault et al . 2020), improve animal health (Oliveira et al . 2017) and welfare (Hristov et al .…”

“…For example, biosecurity can address the main infectious diseases present on dairy cattle farms such as bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and bovine tuberculosis (BT), as is the case in Spain (Renault et al 2018a;MAPA 2020a). Biosecurity can therefore reduce mortality (Renault et al 2020), improve animal health (Oliveira et al 2017) and welfare (Hristov et al 2011), and consequently, increase animal productivity (Postma et al 2016a). A relationship has also been described between greater biosecurity and less use of antibiotics (Laanen et al 2013;Postma et al 2016b;Isomura et al 2018).…”

Biosecurity at Cattle Farms: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

“…Besides, the existing studies on disease cost efficiency usually target a single practice or focus on the prevention of specific diseases [4]. A pilot study performed on a small sample of farms tested a methodology to estimate the overall benefits of a higher biosecurity level [40]. It showed interesting results as a higher biosecurity level was significantly correlated with a BVD-free status, a lower mortality rate in adult cattle (over 24 months) and young calves (0-7 days).…”