USPOULTRY’s 2023 Live Production, Welfare and Biosecurity Seminar provided attendees with perspectives on biosecurity and safeguarding flock health, particularly in the light of the ongoing threat presented by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Additional topics covered water sanitation, on-farm food safety testing, antimicrobial stewardship, biosecurity audits and more.
Continuing the HPAI theme, Joseph Churilla, wildlife biologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture APHIS Wildlife Services, gave an update on the efforts being made to prevent flock infection. He explained that Wildlife Services works with airports in hazard mitigation and that many of the strategies applied to bird strike prevention also apply to biosecurity at poultry farms. He noted that while it is not possible to control what flies over a farm, there are factors that can be controlled to prevent infection.