Farm biosecurity planning and templates
A farm biosecurity plan is a simple document for farmers who want to prevent, eliminate, and minimise biosecurity risks on-farm.
Anyone who keeps or owns livestock or who operates a cropping or horticulture business, should have a biosecurity plan for their property.
A farm biosecurity plan is easy to create. It should:
- define your responsibilities
- outline the disease protocols used on your property
- ensure property information and biosecurity measures are quickly accessible and
- enable you to easily communicate your biosecurity procedures to others.
What is an on-farm biosecurity plan?
An on-farm biosecurity plan usually includes a property information page and these sections:
- Inputs - Livestock, feed and water
- People, vehicle and equipment
- Production practices
- Pests and weeds
- Outgoing products
- Train, plan, record
- Johnes for cattle (optional)
Which farm biosecurity plan template is right for me?
There are a range of different templates suited to different farm types. Read on to find out what works for you.
The Animal Health Australia Better On-farm Biosecurity page includes a video that demonstrates how to complete a farm biosecurity plan and has a downloadable on-farm biosecurity plan template. You can also access an action planner and other biosecurity essentials.
Integrity Systems provides a range of tools and assistance to support compliance with the Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) program.
The LPA program is the on-farm assurance program that underpins market access for Australian red meat.
Download the LPA On-Farm Biosecurity Management Plan template or if you have an LPA account you can also upload the information online.
Dairy Australia emergency animal disease preparedness has several downloadable resources.
On Australian Pork biosecurity plan and resources page, you will find tools to help develop biosecurity plans and support implementation of simple, everyday biosecurity practices to protect your herd health.
Resources are available for all levels of pig keeping and production, whether you have one or two pet pigs, a hobby farm, keep pigs for your own consumption or are a small or large commercial operation.
Agriculture Victoria animal health and welfare staff are offering hands-on help to pig owners to develop an on-farm biosecurity plan from now until June 2024. Along with help developing a biosecurity plan, Agriculture Victoria staff will also undertake free worm testing for pig herds. The property visits and sampling are undertaken voluntarily.
To obtain help with developing a biosecurity plan and take part in the free testing email pig.biosecurity@agriculture.vic.gov.au
Q Alpaca and Alpaca CheQA are quality assurance programs that can help you monitor and manage known diseases and help you reduce the risk of an emergency animal disease.
The AAA has a page about alpaca biosecurity and recommends the National Biosecurity Reference Manual: Grazing Livestock Production manual for alpaca owners. They also provide an alpaca industry biosecurity plan template.
Agriculture Victoria biosecurity management plan cover sheet
New laws have been introduced in Victoria under the Livestock Management Act 2010, enabling livestock producers to protect their property from unlawful trespassers.
To take advantage of these protections, producers must ensure necessary visitor consent procedures are in place, clearly display compliant biosecurity signage and include a farm map and specific information as part of their farm biosecurity plan.
A Biosecurity Management Plan (BMP) cover sheet template that includes the required specific information is available to download.
Complete and attach the BMP cover sheet to your existing farm biosecurity plan to ensure biosecurity offences are enforceable on your farm.