Dear Poultry Farmer,
Basically, Biosecurity Training for Individuals Working on the Poultry Operation (Rural Poultry Farmers) will help them UNDERSTAND THE LINE OF SEPARATION in a poultry farm.
Everyone entering the poultry operation plays an essential role in protecting the health of the poultry on a poultry site. By following specific biosecurity steps on the farm, employees can minimize the risk of bringing avian influenza or other diseases to the site.
The Line of Separation, or LOS, is the inner control boundary on the poultry site.
The purpose of having a LOS on the poultry site is to isolate poultry from potential disease sources.
For indoor-raised poultry, the LOS is usually the walls of the building. For indoor-raised poultry with access to the outdoors, the LOS may be extended from the walls of the building to include the walls of the outdoor pens or porches.
For poultry with non-enclosed outdoor access, such as pastured poultry, natural or man-made obstacles which contain the poultry within a designated area may constitute the LOS. By controlling entry of people, and equipment or vehicles as applicable, into the LOS, the risk of introducing disease into the poultry areas will be reduced.
The LOS is sometimes called the “last line of defense” for protecting the birds housed on the site. It can be helpful to think of the LOS as the walls of a castle.
The door to the castle is the LOS access point, controlled by the operation. The operation decides when to open the door and let in a person or other item after appropriate biosecurity measures have been followed.
Each farm is different, and there may be situations where the boundary of the LOS is not as clear. The best way to determine where the LOS is located is by reading the site-specific biosecurity plan, which may include a labeled map of the site.
Sometimes, individuals entering the site will ONLY need to enter the PBA (perimeter buffer area), and will not have to cross the LOS.
In most cases, you will be able to determine in advance whether you will need to cross the LOS or not. Regardless of if you plan on crossing the LOS, before entering the site, make sure you know where the boundaries of the LOS are, and where access points are located. Recognize that when people, vehicles, equipment, or other items cross the LOS at the entry point, specific biosecurity steps need to be followed.
Occasionally, for certain movements, like manure or litter removal or loading or unloading of poultry, the boundaries of the Line of Separation may change. If you are involved in these types of movements, it is especially important to know in advance whether you will follow the normal biosecurity steps in order to enter the perimeter buffer area and cross the LOS, or if these steps– and perhaps the location of the LOS– will temporarily change to accommodate these movements.