In Quail Farming, biosecurity is an important aspect that needs to be maintained. It is relatively cheap and in fact the most effective way to prevent and contain disease that might occur in Quail farming.
In fact, no other disease prevention method will work without any biosecurity program.
Biosecurity is a program designed to maintain live.
For quail farming, it can be simply described a method to prevent disease, clinical or subclinical, in a way to make a system to maximize poultry (quail) production as a whole, as a part of animal welfare.
In the beginning, the concept of biosecurity is applied to produce disease-free poultry for experimental purposes only.
But today, biosecurity is maintained at various kind of farms as a practical way to prevent undesired organism or pathogen.
Nowadays this method is also applied by other developed country as a defense to their local farm industry from dangerous diseases that can spread easily from other territory.
Important aspects that needed inside biosecurity program is: to cure certain disease, eradicate and contain diseases, provide proper environment for Quails, make save the product produced from farm, lower the risk that might occur for the consumer, and the risk for the worker inside Quail farm during the process of Quail farming.
Above mentioned aspects are very important, considering Quail farming is arranged by caging Quails in big coop and quails are prone to diseases.
That is why farmer need to have extra care to Quail regarding their treatment, flies, and also bad smell that can disturb the surroundings.
What kind of disease that Quails can get in the environment?
Disease causative agent is a term for harmful microorganism found in surrounding environment such as virus, bacteria, fungi, and parasite, inside and outside of Quail’s body.
The disease is driven from three factors.
Disease causative agent, the host (Quail), and environment.
In nature, microorganism is always interact in a balance so quail have the resistance from harmful microorganisms.
When there is changes that affecting that interaction, which benefit the microorganism but harmful to Quails, then a disease will happen. The condition varies depend on the cause.
How disease causative agent penetrate the Quail farm?
Disease causative agent infiltrate to Quail farm by many ways such as:
- Transmitted from Quails to chicks, and unknowingly brought into the farm (vertical transmission)
- Carried by quail recovering from a disease.
- carried by Quail from outside of the farm (horizontal transmission)
- Transmitted through infected eggs from other hatchery breeding farm
- Carried by unclean shoes, hands, and clothes from outside of the farm, carrying pathogens such as bacteria and virus from outside
- Brought in by dust, feather and manure by means such as Quail’s equipment and vehicles.
- Brought by other animals such as wild birds, beetles, rats, flies, and other insects.
Wild birds are reservoir for diseases such as ND, IB, Psittacosis, AI and Pasteurella spp.
Beetles are reservoir for most of the infection such as Marek, Gumboro, Salmonellosis, Pesteurellosys, and koksidiosis.
Flies can carry digestion related disease, and mite can disrupt Quails’ egg production and causing itchy when biting.
Cullicoides is a vector for leucocytozoonosis. - Brought through food contaminated with microorganism.
Food contamination by salmonella sppp or IBD (Infectious Bursal Disease)/Gumboro. - Water contamination by bacteria (Salmonella, E. coli)
- Transmitted by air, such as viruss velogenic ND and ILT
- Transmitted by live vaccine (Vaccine Contamination)
Contamination by poultry vaccine can occur when the vaccine is taken from eggs of non Specific Pathogen Free (non-SPF) Farm. It can contain pages such as adenovirus, reovirus, or other agents responsible to anemia and retikuloendoteliosis.
Pathogens can also transmitted across poultry by contamination of unsterilized tools.
Viruses can survive for a long period, especially in an organic substance.
Pasteurella and Mycoplasma and other kind of bacterias can also survive outside of the body.
Respiration related viruses is weak outside the host, even though it can goes for at least 5 miles under satisfactory condition.
Duration of survival of disease causative agent
Disease agent
|
Disease Live
|
Duration
|
Avibirna V.
|
IBD/Gumboro
|
Few Months
|
Duck Plague V
|
Duck Plague
|
Few days
|
Pasteurella Multocida
|
Quail Cholera
|
Few Weeks
|
Haemophylis G
|
Coryza / Snot
|
Few hours/day
|
Herpes oncogenic
|
Marek
|
Few Months/Years
|
Paramyxo V.
|
ND
|
Few Days/Weeks
|
1. Traffic control
Biosecurity in general is regulated to control human traffic such as locking the door and forbidding unnecessary entrance.
Professional crew may enter the farm after being disinfected, sprayed thoroughly, wearing special shoes, proper covering clothes, and disinfected hat.
Hand are also causing infection and must be disinfected before entering and leaving the coop area.
In hatchery farm, this procedure is applied with stricter rules.
Visitor usually unable to visit lower level of process (Parent stock, commercial, processing, etc) at least three days after previous visit.
Traffic control is not only applied to people, but also animals such as wild birds, rats, beetles, insects, and other animal.
It is best to install wire mesh fence to an open farm building to prevent harmful insects and predators.
Even though it is not effective, it still can reduce the risk of contamination.
Make sure maintain the cleanliness of farm yard and walls. Grass also need to be cut regularly.
Coop construction and food stock have to be designed to make sure rats, birds and other harmful animals from entering.
Pest control must also conducted regularly.
One way to do that is to put rodent trap near to coops every 15 to 20 meters.
The traps need to be monitored and the baits have to be changed periodically (every 5 days more or less).
Waste coming from Quail farm must be cleaned to prevent flies infestation.
When the flies starting to infest the farm, it is best to control it by means such as insecticide to eliminate adult flies and larvas, Vehicles coming inside and outside farm are also need to be strictly monitored.
Every vehicles entering the farm have to pass disinfection process located in the back entrance the farm.
The only vehicles permitted to enter the farms are vehicles transporting Quails, Food, and necessary instruments.
For the Quail nesting farm, even string cure rules must be applied.
Vehicles must stop to receive thorough cleaning and disinfection with high pressured water.
Meanwhile, the driver must be entering particular door to be sprayed and disinfected.
For farm with certain urgencies, usually there are distinction between dirty sanitation area, clean, and semi-clean area.
By doing that, there is always in-out control of goods and humans.
2. Coop history reporting
Writing coop history is a way to review the condition of coop.
3. Periodical coop cleaning
Cleaning the coop could be the most challenging things to do.
After coop is being returned, the coop needs to be sterilized.
4. Quail Food Control
Biosecurity for food usually condoned especially at the factory.
This must be strictly done considering there are many harmful toxic that can contaminate food.
To make sure the food are safe, there are some key points:
- Eliminate / reduce the risk of giving Quail the wrong food formula such as giving too much salt, etc.
- Supervising the ingredients quality periodically, such as water, aflatoxin level, freshness test, organism sampling, and proximity analysis to food quality.
- Meet the demand of consumer.
Some customer in breeding farm usually requesting certain kind of food to prevent asalmonellosys.
The demands may vary such as food that has been cooled down through heating process (at 65-90 degree Celsius), additional vitamin, crumbling/pelleting, and additional acidifier (Format acid, Lactate Acid, Propionate acid, butyrate acid, Citrate Acid, etc) - Adding toxin binder to prevent the growth of toxic fungi
- Conducting sanitation of food trucks, before and after arriving at consumer farm.
- Paying attention to the duration of ingredients and the lodging of Quail food
5. Water Control
Water is the main source of contamination beside of food and air.
Diseases that may be contaminated through water is salmonellosis, Colibasilosys, Apergillosis, and Egg Drop Syndrome.
In order to monitor water biosecurity, we have to:
- Check water quality at least one a year through chemical check, and bacterial check.
- Check water culture at least once every month to test the hygiene of drinking water for Quail (Quality and Quantity).
This test should be done with an order from the headwaters until the downstream. - Sanitize the drinking water in accordance of the contamination level.
Generally sanitation is done with chlorine, but nowadays it can also be done with other commercial products such as organic acid. - Periodic Flushing at waters installation inside the farm at least once a week.
This treatment is important considering the intensity of farmer giving vitamins, minerals, or antibiotics using water as mediums.
In the management of Quail Farming, Waste is absolutely also produced as a side effect.
This waste should be taken away from the farm as soon as possible.
If possible, there ought to be another personnel with specialty of taking the waste and throw wit outside of the farm area.
If it is not possible to throw away or eliminate, then the location should not disturb the Quail Farm itself and must prevent damage to surroundings.
Dead Quail, after being checked from the death cause should be thrown away at disposal pit
To Purchase biosecurity tools, please click below: BIO SECURITY TOOLS
