Iowa Agencies Release Video to Help Producers Prepare for Foreign Animal Disease Response

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig has announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, in partnership with Iowa State University, has developed a video demonstrating for livestock producers how to set up a vehicle cleaning and disinfection corridor to protect their farms, and neighboring farms, during a foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak, according to a release from the Department of Agriculture. This is one of the steps the department is taking to prepare livestock producers for a potential FAD outbreak.

Maintaining good biosecurity measures is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of FADs, and a vehicle cleaning and disinfection corridor is a critical component of an on-farm biosecurity plan, the release says. All vehicles, trucks, trailers and equipment entering or exiting a farm during a FAD outbreak should be properly cleaned and disinfected to help prevent pathogens from spreading to other locations and livestock.

“Practicing proper biosecurity on livestock farms every day is the best way to protect animal health, and biosecurity becomes even more important during a foreign animal disease outbreak,” says Secretary Naig in the release. “This video is one of many resources the department has created to help livestock producers plan and prepare for a foreign animal disease outbreak so they can respond more effectively, if an outbreak occurs.”

The video, titled “Setting Up and Operating a Cleaning and Disinfection Station,” is a free resource for livestock producers. It is available on the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s biosecurity web page and YouTube.

The video details:

• How to select the location and prepare a decontamination corridor
• What items are needed to operate a cleaning and disinfection station
• What to do when a vehicle arrives at the farm
• How vehicles should enter the decontamination corridor
• How vehicles should leave a farm directly impacted by a FAD
• How to disinfect the decontamination corridor
• How to protect personnel
• How to properly remove personal protective equipment (PPE)
• How to plan for inclement weather

The Iowa Department of Agriculture produced this video using the Foreign Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Fund (163.3B), provided by the Iowa Legislature to protect the state’s food animal production and economy, the release says.

To learn more about the state’s foreign animal disease response plans, visit iowaagriculture.gov/animal-industry-bureau/animal-disease-response.