Dairy’s FARM Program Offers Free Biosecurity Resources to Help Prevent HPAI

 Emily Yeiser-Stepp, executive director of the National Dairy FARM Program, says biosecurity is more important than ever after the recent outbreak of HPAI in dairy cattle herds. One pillar of the FARM program focuses on providing dairy farmers with the tools to keep their herds and businesses safe from an unseen threat of disease.

“Unfortunately, we've had to really elevate the awareness around this pillar of the farm program to communicate that we do have resources and tools available for operations that have always had excellent biosecurity practices in place when a threat of a disease is literally knocking on their doorstep and things that we can do to assist them to minimize the potential continuation of the threat of transfer of that disease is really heightened,” she recently said on an NMPF podcast.

Step one, according to Yeiser-Stepp, is that producers need to continue to implement the robust protocols that they’ve been doing for decades. She notes that farmers need to:

• Limit traffic in and out of farms to essential individuals by employees and personnel. 

• If there is a need to move cattle, be diligent in any pre-testing that can be done by having your veterinarian engaged at the farm level to identify if cows are starting to show symptoms. Do not transport these sick animals.

• Wash boots using disinfectant.

• Wash hands with disinfectant.

Producers should first contact their veterinarian if they notice animals developing HPAI symptoms. Then, the veterinarian will take the next cautious steps if indeed they feel it is HPAI to begin testing with state health officials.

The HPAI outbreak is a fluid situation. Producers can go to nationaldairyfarm.com to get more up-to-date information. Additionally, FARM has resources available to producers that share states with confirmed HPAI cases, states that currently have restrictions on dairy cattle movement, as well as self-assessment checklists, templates, posters, different preparation guides and much more.