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Bulletin No. 32 - Winter 2008

Preventive Veterinary Medicine , 2007, Volume 82, 138-150

Biosecurity measures are extremely important in the prevention of diseases and must, for this reason, be chosen and followed properly. The objective of this cross-sectional survey was to better understand farmers' perception of the importance of biosecurity measures, to define which biosecurity measures are applied on swine farms and to clarify the relationship between farmers' perception of the measures their farm would need and those they actually implement. A total of 172 breeding farms were included in the study, which was based on a questionnaire completed by the veterinarians in charge of each farm, and on an interview with the farmer. The data collected consisted in general information on the farm, farmer's opinion about biosecurity measures, measures related to the location of the farm, to the replacement stock and to the farm management and facilities. The results showed that the perception of a biosecurity measure largely depended on the measures actually implemented on a given farm. Farmers tended to consider that the most important biosecurity measures were actually those they applied in their farm. This shows that efforts should be made in the information of farmers on biosecurity measures that should be applied in swine breeding farms.