Livestock and poultry producers now have access to enhanced disease prediction and movement mapping with Farm Health Guardian. The latest development for the biosecurity software platform, the new mapping feature will help producers manage their biosecurity risks with geographic and environmental prediction factors to establish disease quarantine zones and send targeted messages to the people and farms that might be at risk.
“We know that animal diseases can easily be spread by vectors like trucks, people and even the wind,” explains Rob Hannam, CEO of Farm Health Guardian. “Combining this enhanced mapping tool with the Farm Health Protect biosecurity platform, we can help producers who manage multiple production facilities to reduce the risk of disease spread amongst their barns.”
Farm Health Protect is a biosecurity management system that automatically and confidentially records the movement of trucks and people on and off farm properties for rapid contact tracing in the event of a suspected disease outbreak. The biosecurity system provides real-time access to integrated data, so if a disease outbreak is suspected, the production system can instantly generate risk-based reports and immediately contact the people, farms and vehicles that might be at risk.
The new biosecurity mapping features provide Farm Health Protect users with the ability to draw customized radius maps and polygon quarantine zones around a farm property. The system can also factor in wind speed and direction to identify surrounding properties at risk from windborne pathogen transmission. These enhancements can improve the prediction of disease spread, assist in rerouting transportation to avoid hot zones and provide a communications tool so producers can take action early before a disease gets out of hand.
“Preventing outbreaks of highly pathogenic diseases that can be spread by wind, like PRRS in swine or avian influenza in poultry, is more important than ever,” says Hannam. “Our industry faces an increasing threat of devestating diseases everyday, that’s why we’re working to improve animal health and welfare through digital technology.”
To learn more about Farm Health Guardian, visit farmhealthguardian.com.
