In case you missed the announcement, Alberta Pork is holding its eighth Telephone Town Hall on Friday, August 22 at 10:30 am Mountain Time.
We're pleased to announce that we have confirmed Ben Wooley, Vice-President of Sunterra Farms, as our special guest speaker.
Ben will be talking about what he and his people are doing around biosecurity now and their plans for the fall. He also has a list of some key questions to ask yourself to make sure your biosecurity is as strong as possible.
Below is a copy of Ben's list. You may want to print it or have it on your computer screen tomorrow during the call to refer to as Ben goes over the questions.
Audit questions for PED prior to winter
By Ben Wooley
Transport
· Have you audited your truck wash and are they following yours and Alberta Pork’s biosecurity protocols?
· Do you have an alternative to allowing trucks to back up to your chute? If not:
o Are you inspecting trailers before they back up to your loading chute?
o Do you know the history of the trucks and trailers backing up to your chutes and where they have been prior to coming to your farm?
o Do you have written loading procedures for where the line of embarkation is? Does your staff follow these procedures? Do the truckers follow these procedures?
Feed and feedstuffs
· Are you using blood plasma or any other porcine derived products? If so do you know the origin of the plasma and is it safe?
· Does your feed mill use porcine products?
o Do they know the source or origin of these products and are they safe?
o If they do stock porcine products, what are their manufacturing sequencing protocols?
· Is your feed mill actively trying to protect your farm and business?
· Where have the delivery truck been and are they clean?
o Do you know the sequencing of the feed trucks? What have they hauled before hauling your feed?
Dead stock
· Are you using a renderer to collect your dead stock?
o Is your collection area secure with no chance of cross contamination?
o Is it possible to have separate entrances to the pickup area?
o Is the truck clean coming to your collection area?
· Do you have alternatives to rendering? If so, are they safer and are they approved?
Employees and entrance protocols
· Is the entrance way to your facility clean and are shoes kept out of the shower area?
· Do you have shower in/shower out protocols at all your facilities?
o If not do you have Danish entrances?
o Have you reviewed these protocols with your veterinarian to make sure they are secure?
o Have you reviewed your protocols with your staff to make sure they understand them?
o Is your staff following these protocols?
· Do you have written policies on downtime and direct and indirect exposure for your staff and do they understand them?
· Do you have written protocols for supplies entering your facility and do you have policies regarding what employees can bring into the facility? IE. Lunches, phones, ipods etc.
Manure disposal
· If you use contract manure haulers:
o Do you know where they have been prior to coming to your facility?
o Have they washed their trucks?
o Do you know where they have been prior to coming to your facility?
· Is anyone else spreading manure close to any of your facilities and do you know their health status?
Contractors/Visitors/Suppliers
· This means semen suppliers, propane deliveries, maintenance people, visitors, grass cutters, feed suppliers etc.
· Do you have written protocols in place for the entrance of visitors and contractors?
o Do you give them a written copy when they enter the facility?
o Do you make them sign off that they are following the protocols and are clean?
· Where have they been prior to coming to your facility?
· Are their vehicles clean?
· Are their tools and equipment clean?
· Have you reviewed your protocols with all contractors and anyone outside your company, including your veterinarian?
Veterinarian
· Have you reviewed all your protocols with your veterinarian?
· Does your veterinarian drive your health protocols and are they actively involved in protecting your facilities?
· Are you following your veterinarian’s protocols?
Miscellaneous
· Have you reviewed all your protocols with your staff and are you getting buy-in from them?
· Is your staff actively giving input to your protocols and are they constantly looking for holes in the system?
· Are you monitoring the national testing and are you constantly aware of what breaks there are and where? (Of any health outbreak)
Source: Alberta Pork