Livestock Biosecurity

It is important for livestock veterinarians to work together with producer clients to maintain healthy, productive, and profitable herds. Perhaps most importantly, veterinarians can help clients create and implement proper biosecurity measures on their farms and ranches. 

Clearly, the best way to maintain good biosecurity is to keep a closed herd (no contact with other livestock or wildlife and strictly limited human access), but that is nearly impossible to achieve. During summer fair and show season, in particular, many herds leave their home facilities, travel to events, and mingle with other animals.

It is important to remember that there is potential for disease any time an animal is taken away from its home facility and brought to an event. But there are many actions producers can take to mitigate chances of disease transmission at events:

• Only attend small shows where they know the majority, if not all, of the participants, and are familiar with their biosecurity practices
• Disinfect the pens at shows before animals are placed in them
• Maintain space between different herds at shows
• Don’t share tack or other equipment between different herds
• Be aware of the early detection signs of potential diseases, including eye, respiratory, and skin diseases, specifically ringworm, sore mouth, pink eye, contagious abscesses, and bacterial/viral causes of various GI diseases
• Quarantine animals for 14 days upon returning home, allowing enough time to recognize, treat, and recover from any diseases their animals may have brought home

Other biosecurity strategies producers should be implementing on a regular basis include:

• Know the source, health, and vaccination status of new purchases
• Quarantine new purchases for 14 days before integrating them into existing herds
• Immediately separate sick animals from the herd
• Implement appropriate vaccination strategies
• Keep the herd’s environment clean, dry and with an appropriate concentration of animals
• Utilize herd history to guide disease protocols
• Continually monitor the herd for further signs of disease or deficiencies
• Talk to your veterinarians about performing necropsies on any animals that die

Herd health services at UC Davis can work with veterinarians and producer clients to develop individual animal treatment protocols and vaccination plans appropriate for their production goals. 

Through our Anatomic Pathology Service and/or the California Animal Health and Food Safety laboratories, we can work together on sample submissions, diagnostic tests, and necropsies that will lead to a diagnosis and, hopefully, a starting point to control future diseases.

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