• Livestock

Early communication to veterinarians for possible HPAI symptoms

The BroilerNet project involves a bottom-up approach to identify challenges and innovation needs for broiler farmers in Europe, and to collect promising and already successfully implemented Good Practices to meet the challenges in questions. The top Good Practices selected by experts within the three thematic areas (animal health management, animal welfare and sustainability) have been summarized in factsheets. Many types of infections can challenge modern broiler farms. Avian Influenza virus is a major threat for most European farms. Prompting farmers to an early communication to the vets practice can greatly reduce the spread of Avian Influenza and many other transmissible viruses or bacteria. In some cases deviations in feed and water consumption or bird movement might be an early sign of a developing infection. During training or communication farmers are systematically encouraged to communicate immediately upon possible symptoms that might indicate upcoming flock illness.