Australian National Farm Biosecurity Manual: Poultry Production/Free Range Production Operations

From Poultry Hub

This manual applies equally to conventionally housed birds and free-range operations. It is recognised that free-range birds will have some exposure to wild birds. However, in these environments measures should be taken to minimise the congregation of waterfowl and the impacts of wild birds generally, and these measures should be documented.

While footbaths are not appropriate for a free range paddock, a system should be implemented to monitor and prevent any potential hazardous organic material or litter entering free range paddocks and these measures should be documented. Paragraph 4.3.4 covers some specificrange management issues to be followed by free range operations.

Good fencing is required around free range farms to prevent the entry of animals such as dogs, foxes and cats. In many situations, however, fencing alone is insufficient to stop such intrusions;therefore, some free range enterprises keep specially trained dogs with the chickens, as protection against other animals and against unauthorised human entry. Guard dogs such as these are not regarded as a biosecurity risk but rather as a biosecurity tool.

Next Section: Routine Biosecurity: Documentation and Training