Experienced veterinarians and swine producers can often pick up on certain clues to tell how well farm biosecurity protocols are being followed even if people’s actions are not recorded. Still, the fact is that cameras in pig production facilities have been dramatically helpful with procedural audits, both preventive and following disease outbreaks, to help track down verified and potential points of entry.
Recordings serve as a valuable witness to past actions, even if a producer installed the cameras to primarily be used in real time for daily training and security.
Humans Make Mistakes
A farm’s biosecurity is a system of barriers designed to reduce the risk of a novel pathogen infecting the pigs. These barriers include clearly defined clean-dirty lines (CDLs), limited transfer points (tightly controlled entry locations for people, animals and supplies, as well as live animal and mortality exits) and sanitation expectations that apply to everyone, such as showers, lunch entry, downtime and more.
I’m often asked where biosecurity infractions commonly occur. These most often occur anywhere there’s a CDL, as these are where there is potential for contamination from the “dirty” side of the farm into the “clean” side. Incidentally, my advice is to have as few of these points as practical on your farm. The most common places for infractions are the employee entry area, lunch or supply entry areas and the live-animal loadout area.
The first two rely on many individuals consistently following the rules, including personnel who do not routinely visit the farm, such as maintenance staff or visitors. Employee entry areas should be clearly marked, with shoe covers worn upon exiting vehicles, a bench in place for physical separation, showers and other precautions. Still, it only takes one person carrying a pathogen on their clothes or shoes to skip a step when entering the facility, to compromise the farm’s biosecurity. The same risk applies when supplies, lunch containers or other items are not properly disinfected.
Even the most conscientious worker might be preoccupied and forget a step at some point, or it could be a new person not yet fully trained or used to the routine. Regardless, this is where a camera mounted in the employee entry can help earn its keep.
Removing Guesswork
In many states, the law requires that a USDA-accredited veterinarian be on-site every 30 days to write a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection for livestock crossing state lines. Within Carthage Veterinary Service, our vets typically complete general biosecurity audits during these monthly site visits to help confirm the farm’s biosecurity and identify any areas of improvement.
I look for clues of breached biosecurity during my monthly visits — for instance, if shoes are too far from the bench in the people entry area for someone to have reasonably been able to get over the bench and into the “clean” side without their socks or bare feet touching the “dirty” floor, the person probably didn’t enter the farm following our procedures. Camera footage can help note these instances better, the same way it helps producers and farm managers improve biosecurity.
Cameras take much guesswork out of biosecurity management, letting us rely on impartial footage either in a casual review or in trying to follow a herd outbreak back to the pathogen’s source. Even cameras don’t guarantee we’ll always find a “smoking gun” for a disease outbreak. However, if they can help narrow down the origin to a potential practice, entry or vendor, the producer can address the infraction for future improvements.
Barriers to Improvements
The biggest impediment to adoption of biosecurity improvements is typically cost. Aside from that, even inexpensive physical or free behavioral changes can run into problems. I have found that common barriers to adoption/enforcement of protocols are usually lack of understanding or language differences.
Many swine farm workers are native Spanish speakers, and even those who understand some English will likely learn more if the rules are explained in their first language. We work closely with the Carthage System, which employs bilingual production managers where needed, to provide written instructions in both Spanish and English.
Lack of understanding is somewhat different, and can happen even in a common language. I believe in explaining why standard operating procedures (SOPs) should be followed; people deserve to know how following the rules helps them and the farm succeed. I usually approach this with the mindset of: “I understand doing this might add more time to your task, but this is why each step is important.”
Cameras are typically thought of as a corrective tool for mistakes, but there’s more to them. Being able to use your daily footage to pull out examples of adherence or extra effort and praise those employees where you can is quite beneficial. I suggest saving any camera footage of team members following proper SOPs to use as training materials for the future. With proper biosecurity protocols in place and proper compliance with SOPs, farms will be more biosecure and may see an increase in health and production.
Basic Zone SOPs
Every farm is different and requires its own biosecurity plan. Here’s some general advice to all producers: Clearly define the CDL at every entry and exit point and determine what practices are essential to maintaining a disease-free environment for your pigs.
People entry:
● CDL: The bench
● Watch for: (1) removing and leaving shoes on the dirty side before swinging feet over to the clean side without touching the dirty floor; (2) not allowing phones and coats past the bench to the clean side
Supply room entry:
● CDL: The door is always the CDL, but the room’s status changes
● Watch for: (1) when the room is being loaded with new supplies, it’s dirty. Recommendation is to fill the room and leave it closed for 7 days for a heated decontamination of potential pathogens; (2) when the room is being unloaded after the 7 days from the farm side, it is clean, as are its contents
Animal loadout:
● CDL: Door/truck interface
● Watch for: (1) pigs should not go back and forth across the CDL; (2) people should not cross the CDL and those on both sides should wear protective gear such as rubber gloves and Tyvek coveralls (or Tyvek-like material); (3) wash and disinfect the chute immediately after loading all pigs
Mortality removal:
● CDL: Exit door of mortality room
● Watch for: (1) sow and piglet mortalities should be removed without outside supplies or personnel touching the clean side; (2) all sow and piglet mortalities should be removed at the end of the day and not throughout the day; (3) do not also use room for supplies and equipment storage; (4) wash and disinfect the room immediately after mortality removal
Outdoor parking:
● CDL: Door of each vehicle
● Watch for: put on booties while exiting the vehicle and remove before re-entering vehicle
