Producers responsible for on farm biosecurity

VICTORIAN Farmers Federation presented to more than 150 local producers in Leongatha last Tuesday, December 5 on why it is important to play their part in ensuring biosecurity on their farms.
The Livestock Production Assurance program recently had biosecurity and animal welfare standards added to the existing program.
This means producers of cattle, sheep and goats for meat should have a biosecurity plan in place, as well as a copy of the animal welfare standards and guidelines on farm.
“A biosecurity plan identifies risks and how to implement practices on farm to reduce the risk of infectious diseases on producer’s properties,” VFF livestock project manager Catherine James said.
“Animal welfare is about how producers manage their livestock in accordance with those standards and guidelines.”
Ms James said producers were trying to understand what level they have to go to, to meet the requirements of the program.
“The turnout to the workshop showed there was a lot of interest among producers to better understand what they need to do,” she said.
Walkerville beef farmer Bill Bray has implemented a quality assurance program on his property. He spoke to the attendees about his experiences.
He said he believed it was his responsibility to learn about on farm biosecurity and was keen enough to start filling out the forms.
“As a producer, I talked about the practicalities of the new program for on farm biosecurity and how it works for me,” he said.
“It is all part of being a responsible producer of food.”

Staying safe: from left, presenting at a farm biosecurity workshop in Leongatha last Tuesday, December 5 were Victorian Farmers Federation livestock project manager Catherine James, Neil Henderson from Zoetis Animal Health, Walkerville beef producer Bill Bray and Agriculture Victoria livestock extension officer John Bowman.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Dec 12 2017. Filed under Rural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry