Management and biosecurity practices by small to medium egg producers in Scotland

ABSTRACT

1. Information about procedures and biosecurity practices used by small and medium egg producers (SMEPs) is scarce. Anecdotal evidence suggests that biosecurity in such enterprises may be poor, as personnel and equipment move freely between sites and this may be compounded by personnel working on commercial units who keep their own poultry.

2. To fill this knowledge gap, a questionnaire was designed and implemented targeting SMEPs in Scotland. Small enterprises were defined as egg producers that have ≥50 laying hens but <350 laying hens; while medium enterprises were defined as egg producers that have ≥350 laying hens but ≤32 000 laying hens. The questionnaire consisted of a total of 56 questions divided into multiple sections, covering the characteristics of the primary keeper, location of the enterprise and size of the flocks, husbandry, marketing of products and health/biosecurity.

3. The questionnaire was posted to 375 holdings at the beginning of March 2017 and the survey remained open until the end of May 2017. In total 90 questionnaires were received by the cut-off date of which 76 questionnaires were from SMEPs. Forty were small enterprises and 36 were medium enterprises. For three questionnaires, it was not possible to identify the enterprise type.

4. Differences were observed between SMEPs in terms of reported biosecurity and management practices, with medium enterprises reporting the adoption of more biosecurity measures than small enterprises. Furthermore, SMEPs behave differently from backyard poultry keepers and large commercial companies in terms of disease risk.

5. In conclusion, it is important to ensure that SMEPs are considered in contingency plans and disease control programmes and that engagement with them is promoted so that the uptake of relevant information, such as awareness of disease control programmes, is optimised.

KEYWORDS:

• Egg producers
• small to medium enterprises
• biosecurity measures
• poultry health

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the producers who took the time to participate in the questionnaire. They would like to acknowledge Joanna Baughan, Katherine Adam, Carol Kyle and Lee-Ann Sutherland for their contribution to this work.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Madeleine Henry [MKH – [email protected]], upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

This work was undertaken within the Scottish Government Rural Affairs and the Environment Portfolio Strategic Research Programme 2016-2021 and the Scottish Government’s Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks (EPIC). For more information, please see http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Research/About/EBAR/StrategicResearch/strategicresearch2016-21. The funding body played no role in the study design, data collection and analysis or decision to publish; Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division, as part of the Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks (EPIC); Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division, Grant/Award Number: RESAS 2011−2016.