New stock
- Disease status of new stock is considered carefully before animals are bought or moved.
- Ask questions about animal health, TB status, vaccinations, disease and treatment history.
Visitors
- Visitors arrive with clean equipment, clothing and footwear and disinfect upon arrival.
- Provide a scrubbing brush and water and a disinfectant spray or footbath for visitors.
Fencing
- Boundary fences are secure and prevent nose-to-nose contact with neighbouring stock.
- Avoid grazing boundary paddocks when neighbour’s cows are grazing the adjacent paddock - or create double fencing or outrigger fences.
Calves
- Young calves are given special protection
- Only allow essential people into the calf shed. Have a separate set of farm clothing and boots to use around calves - clean these regularly.
Weeds
- Potential weeds and pasture pests are identified and prevented.
- Check with your regional council and the agpest website for advice and information. Check that feed sourced from off-farm doesn’t contain seeds of weeds new to your farm.
Pests
- Animal pests are controlled.
- Keep areas around buildings free from clutter and long grass.
- Store feed securely.
Signage
- Biosecurity signs are clearly visible and easy to follow.
- Include the name and contact phone number of the farm owner/manager to make it easy for visitors to contact the right person. Here’s a template that you can get printed as a sign from your local sign-writer.
Biosecurity on NZ Dairy Farms
DairyNZ's Nita Harding talks about the biosecurity practices farmers can put in place to protect their businesses and animals.
Concerned by a new pest, weed, or disease?
Call the MPI hotline 0800 80 99 66 or contact your regional council for advice.
Publications
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Biosecurity WOF
Developed with farmers, for farmers. We recommend that you ask your veterinarian to help you work through this check list.
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Visitor biosecurity sign
Printable visitor biosecurity sign in A4 size.
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Protecting your farm
Use this checklist to identify ways you can help protect your farm from diseases, weeds and pests.
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Protect your farm from disease
Cleaning and disinfection poster to help protect your farm from disease.