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Infectious disease costs UK Livestock plc millions of pounds each year. But keeping out disease is not about building a fortress. Vet Dick Sibley from West Ridge Veterinary Practice in Devon outlines a simple four-point plan.
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1. What is your strategy?
Write down what are the risks to the herd/flock of those diseases that matter. Questions to ask include "do 
you buy in stock from other farms?" because this is a main route for importing disease.
It is not always possible to stop buying in stock, but it is possible to cut the risks.
Talk to the people you buy from regularly to find out what underlying disease (or diseases) is within their flock/herd. Buy from herds and flocks where you know the disease situation and source low-risk animals from low-risk farms.
If needs be, isolate bought-in stock away from the main livestock to allow sufficient time for disease surveillance, which may be for only a few days. All farms will be different and have practical restraints,
but consider the options.
2. What are the risks of other animal-to-animal contact?
There can be risks from animals on your farm coming into contact with those on another, such as adjoining grazing with neighbouring farms. Disease rarely physically jumps a fence, but it can be passed by nose-to-nose contact.
Time is significant. Continuous contact is the biggest risk with shared grazing or buildings. Double-fencing is the five-star option to minimise the risk, but in most cases it is just not practical or affordable over large areas.
Other cost-effective solutions are available, such as electric fencing, avoiding shared buildings, improving
hedges and liaising with neighbours to avoid stock grazing in neighbouring fields. All these simple considerations will cut the risk of infection coming on to your farm.
The risk of contact has to be put into perspective. Consider the likelihood of contact; over what period of time and what numbers are involved? Obviously, for larger stock numbers the impact and cost of disease can be much higher.
When the risk cannot be managed by any of the factors above there are two options – live with it or look at other ways of managing risk such as vaccination. Your vet will be able to offer help and advice on the latter.
3. Which people have contact with livestock?
This is where biosecurity can go out of the window. What is the use of asking a postman to dip his/her feet and cross a wheel-wash when you buy in cattle or sheep each week? Assess which poses most risk and then question which area is getting most action.
Think about who comes on to your farm. High-risk traffic will include most professionals such as vets, relief staff, foot-trimmers, AI technicians. Do not take it for granted that these people are vigilant about biosecurity.
Biosecurity is almost a taboo in the UK; we approach it with embarrassment. In Holland you walk on to a farm and are immediately presented with a disposable overall and you disinfect in and out – it’s a given. It should be no different here.
Be aware of other people that may not be as observant on biosecurity as you may like. Reps, other farmers, family – there’s a whole range to consider. Ask yourself this: Do they need to come into the livestock areas? If not, keep them out. Full stop. If they do need to go in make sure they are clean.
Containing foot traffic to nonlivestock areas such as the farmhouse kitchen/office and the yard is a step forward. Just remember if you use the farmyard to move stock to housing or grazing, where visitors park and walk is a contaminated and potentially high-risk area. Know the difference.
4. What machines and equipment pose a risk ?
They might be inanimate objects – vehicles, muck spreaders and water, slurry – but the same principle of 
assessing risk remains.
Stock that share open watercourses with neighbouring farms are potentially exposed to a high risk of leptospirosis and salmonella, according to research. Again, it may not be practical to eliminate the risks, but can they be managed?
Can you avoid grazing areas linked by the watercourse? Can it be fenced off? Ask yourself these questions.
Similarly, transmission of infectious disease by manure, slurry and dirty water should be avoided. Do you have manures from neighbours applied to your land? Do contractors ensure spreaders are cleaned and disinfected before coming to your premises? There is no reason why you should not insist on that.
It happened in 2001 with foot-and mouth, so why not now? Are the risks any less? I don’t think so.