Page 6 - National Poultry Newspaper

Page 6 – National Poultry Newspaper, November 2018
www.poultrynews.com.au
Farm biosecurity – sanitiser selection
Vet’s View
by ROD JENNER
IN the previous edition I discussed the concept of biosecurity and how important it is to your farm’s productivity.
Biosecurity incorporates a number of key compo- nents, including farmgate control, production area movement restrictions and thorough cleaning and sanitation procedures.
In this article I will dis- cuss how to choose the correct sanitiser for the job at hand.
Selecting a sanitiser
Care must be taken to choose the correct sani- tiser and ensure it is fit for purpose, as it is quite an important component of good biosecurity.
An ideal sanitiser is one that is broad spectrum (kills a wide range of bac- teria, viruses and spores), works in any environment, has a short contact time, is non-toxic, non-irritating and non-corrosive.
Unfortunately, there is no single ideal disinfect- ant for all on-farm uses.
Therefore we have to make a choice based on what we are trying to achieve.
Initial cleaning of sur- faces is important to re- move the organic load and provide a good surface for final disinfection to be ef- fective.
As a minimum, a two- stage process of washing down followed by sanita- tion should be employed. Chemical groups
Many different sanitis- ers are available on the market, but it is important to understand the chemi- cal group that a sanitiser belongs to in order to un- derstand its spectrum of activity.
Unfortunately there is no single chemical that ful- fils all the requirements during shed cleanout.
The chemical group is not always easy to deter- mine, so you should ask your chemical supplier for the details of the products you are using.
Following is some infor- mation about a number of the commonly available types of sanitisers:
• Quaternary ammoni- um compounds are highly water soluble but are inac-
tivated by organic matter. They are very effective against some bacterial and viral types, but not others, so for this reason are not suitable as final disinfectants. Inactivated by hard water.
• Iodine-based com- pounds are very effective germicides and are rea- sonably effective in the presence of organic mat- ter. Can be used as an aerosol through foggers to reduce the impact of respiratory diseases like aspergillus and ILT. Inac- tivated by QACs.
• Cresylic Acids are excellent germicides but they are quite an irritant and have a strong odour. Care must be taken to avoid contact with the skin.
• Glutaraldehyde is a highly effective sanitiser and remains fairly effec- tive in the presence of or- ganic matter. Efficacy re- duced by hard water. Care needs to be taken with handling this as it is toxic.
• Chlorine compounds are good disinfectants but they are inactivated quickly by organic matter. Must not be mixed with acids.
• Oxidising agents are very good broad-spec- trum disinfectants and are still effective in the pres- ence of organic matter. May be corrosive.
• Phenols are very ef- fective sanitisers but are irritant and may be toxic. They work well in the presence of organic mat- ter.
Footbaths are very im- portant biosecurity barri- ers against the entry of pathogens into a flock.
Wild bird and rodent droppings can easily be carried into a shed on boots and must be strong- ly avoided.
The most overlooked and important step in ef- fective use of a footbath is to remove as much organ- ic matter from the boots as possible prior to step- ping in the disinfectant.
Iodine-based products are very good for foot- baths due to their combi- nation of safety, efficacy and resistance to organic denaturation.