Improve security on your poultry unit

Poultry producers are being urged to beef up the security of their units following a number of incidents – some purely based on malicious intent rather than theft – which have caused the loss of thousands of birds and increased the risk of disease where intruders have gained access.



Although police in rural areas are encouraging poultry producers to support local “farm watch” schemes in a bid to raise awareness of suspicious behavior, effective security relies on achieving an immediate response to a break-in.


Reports from throughout the UK show that poultry farms are increasingly being targeted by a wide spectrum of criminals and animal welfare activists. From free-range units that may unknowingly be losing a steady flow of birds bound for small-scale poultry keeping to the massive costs of malicious break-ins where entry to buildings is undertaken purely to cause damage – all highlight the need for poultry producers to be more vigilant.


The sustained theft of a few free-range birds over a period of time can clearly make serious inroads into profits. Some producers remain initially unaware that birds are being taken – although there have been instances of up to 500 birds being stolen in one night-time break-in. But underlying these crimes are the heightened risks to flock health as well as to the infrastructure of the unit.


Remote sites away from farmsteads that have no security system in place are particularly at risk. They not only provide criminals with a greater opportunity to perpetrate their crime unseen, but are equally vulnerable to acts of vandalism. A case in Scotland last year left a producer facing the loss of over 136,000 birds after a poultry house was broken into and the controlled environment equipment tampered with.


Lee Taylor of Cheshire-based GSM-Secure says he is astonished that the poultry sector has not addressed the need to make premises and buildings more secure – particularly following the spate of break-ins.


“Poultry farmers don’t seem to appreciate how vulnerable their buildings are – but equally they don’t realise that effective security is very low cost considering the value of the goods and buildings it is protecting.


“We estimated that, for little over £1200, we could have provided one of our security systems that would have prevented the deaths of the 136,000 birds on the Scottish unit,” said Mr Taylor.


The stumbling block for creating an effective security system is that poultry producers widely believe that sprawling premises cannot be properly monitored which often results in no system being installed. Although CCTV cameras are often believed to be the obvious choice for basic security, these systems clearly have their limitations in terms of the size of the areas they can monitor.


“A CCTV system will not halt a criminal and even if the criminal is caught on the camera he’s likely to be wearing a balaclava. So what we have developed is a system that alerts the owner of the premises that there has been a break-in, either to a building or to the site.


“But not only that. The GSM systems can be linked into the electronics of automated feed, water and controlled environment systems so that as soon as any piece of equipment is being tampered with there is an immediate alert sent via mobile phone.”
















GSM-Compact2 
GSM Compact 2
GSM-EcoLine
 GSM Ecoline
 GSM-Pager3
 GSM Pager 3
The GSM Pager 3 can monitor up to four circuits covering any tampering of a power supply, temperature, or air conditioning and even low oxygen or high carbon dioxide if a sensor is fitted.


“Immediately the power is turned off – or where there is a change in the environment, the Pager 3 system will send a text message followed by phone calls to the appropriate people who manage the site so that they are alerted and can be there within minutes of the situation occurring.”


Mr Taylor said a recent case of vandalism on a poultry unit where a fire caused serious losses could have been avoided if a Pager 3 or GSM-Secure-Compact system had been connected to the standard smoke detector or fire alarm. “A text message followed by a phone call would have been triggered.”


Entrance security is the first part of the armoury against crime. The GSM-Eagle is a gate system working on a similar principal. Connected to doors or gates it means no access is allowed until a “free” phone call is made to the unit.


“When the call is made the caller hears one ring after which it is disconnected. The unit identifies the ‘caller ID’ and access is permitted.”


“The level of criminal activity against any form of food production is on the increase, but all farmers need to be aware that the technology now available can be bought and installed at relatively low cost,” he said.


The GSM Secure systems, based on the pager system, costs around £190.



Want to know more? Useful sites


GSM Secure


Crime Stoppers


Crime Matters

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