The volume of international livestock trade increases every year, leading also to higher rates of disease. In the pig sector, the most recent examples of diseases rapidly spreading and affecting a number of countries are African swine fever (ASF), which is still prevalent in eastern Europe, or porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv), which moved fast through Canada and large areas of the US.

In this context, biosecurity (the protection of agricultural animals from any type of infectious agent) becomes a key issue and has to be constantly reinforced to avoid the entrance of new diseases at country level and at farm level. This is called external biosecurity. However, diseases sometiems enter farms, as happened with Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) in 2013, and there should be protocols in place to minimise the spread within farms. Biosecurity within the farm is called internal biosecurity. With the right biosecurity protocols, eradication of existing diseases is also possible.

The Irish pig sector has a geographical advantage compared with other EU countries because Ireland is an island and the traffic of livestock is easier to control than in a continental country. In addition, the pig sector in Ireland has fewer than 400 farms, fewer processing plants and a small number of veterinarians. Thus, the pig industry should be able to coordinate actions to improve herd health for better efficiency and as a competitive advantage in exports.

During the recent PEDv epidemic (in the US and in some EU countries), an ad-hoc biosecurity group led by DAFM was created and biosecurity measures were implemented to avoid PEDv entering Ireland. So far, Ireland has avoided the virus. As a second action, veterinary practitioners and Teagasc personnel have teamed up to start improving biosecurity level in Irish pig farms by using a programme created in Belgium called Biocheck.

Biosecurity survey

Biocheck was developed by Ghent University, in collaboration with Belgian pig and poultry producers and it includes an initial questionnaire completed on farm, as well as a voluntary follow-up programme. It has been used on more than 250 farms in Belgium, with very good results and other countries in the EU are now starting to use it.

The questionnaire can be completed in one hour and includes questions about all aspects of biosecurity such as semen purchase, personnel entering the farm, animal movements, management within the farm or cleaning and disinfection. So far, 30 farms in Ireland have completed the questionnaire and 30 more farmers will be contacted during September and October. Veterinarians and Teagasc advisers participating in the questionnaires have already pointed out how useful they are to find out critical issues on the farms. Once the initial 60 questionnaires are completed, reports will be sent to the farmers and particular actions will be proposed for each farm.

Preliminary results of the questionnaire show that external biosecurity is reasonably good in Ireland compared with other countries in the EU. Many of the herds in Ireland are integrated and this minimises the movement of animals among farms. However, a point that needs to be improved for external biosecurity is the control of personnel and equipment entering the farms by the use of more showering and cleaning facilities.

Poor internal biosecurity

On the other hand, internal biosecurity, the control of diseases within the farm, is poor on many farms in Ireland. The management of animals and cleaning and disinfection are areas where Ireland ranks below the EU average. In many of the farms participating in the Biocheck programme, there is a significant number of animals that are remixed or brought back when moved from one stage to the next. These practices are always avoided in the best performing farms in other EU countries by the use of strict all-in-all-out techniques. All-in-all-out and compartmentalisation of farms is easier to do on larger farms and Ireland is second in average farm size in the EU after Spain.

Irish farms should take advantage of their size to improve internal biosecurity. With large groups of animals, one animal brought back is enough to infect a whole batch of younger animals. Cleaning is also a controversial issue on Irish pig farms. Farmers use different cleaning strategies, but information on the effects of these strategies is scarce. Applied research in this area is needed. Teagasc is planning more research on the subject over the next few years to provide farmers with information on the best cleaning and disinfection methods.

The results from the Biocheck programme and similar actions are an important step for Ireland to compete with other exporting countries, to reduce production costs derived from disease and the use of antimicrobials. Any farm willing to participate in the Biocheck programme should contact their Teagasc adviser or veterinarian.

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