Bio-Security

During a recent conversation with Dr. Bill Barton, Idaho's chief Vet, he was talking about a deadly virus that has hit pigs and he emphasized the importance of bio-security. "Bio-security is so critical. People that have pigs need to limit outside access to those pigs, they need to be very careful about where they have been and what they may bring home to their farm, they need to limit exposure to other pigs, just practice all of the good bio-security measures that are available on the Idaho Department of Agriculture website. Bio-security are those steps that we take to prevent introduction of disease. We are securing our property and our animals from biological disease risk. Something as simple as changing your boots before you go into the barn or pen to feed animals. Leave those boots outside. Washing your hands. Ensuring that the vehicles that come onto your property have not been on other farms that may potentially be infected. There is a whole plethora of excellent bio-security measures that really need to be adhered to for all species of animals. In this case we are talking about PED but it's the same thing with equine diseases and cattle diseases. When we have epidemic diseases at horse shows, a lot of times they are sharing water troughs or feed troughs or tack and things like that. Bio-security means that you will interrupt that transmission cycle by not sharing things and maintaining separation.