Evaluation on biosecurity applications of dairy farms in Bursa provinces

Biosecurity management refers to management practices that protect the health of the livestock herd by preventing introduction of pathogens and poisons that are considered potentially harmful. Dairy farmers are continually identifying and managing risks in order to run good businesses that produce quality products while caring for their people, animals, land and the wider environment. This study was conducted in order to investigate the biosecurity practices of dairy farms in the Bursa province in terms of their biosecurity practices. In the study, the farms and districts with 20 heads and above in Bursa province, which are registered in the Türkvet and herd book-programdatabase were determined. The farms in these 5 districts (Mustafakemalpaşa, Yenişehir, Karacabey, Nilüfer and Osmangazi) are grouped according to their number of animal. In this context, the farms are divided into 4 layers: 20-50 head, 51-100 head, 101-300 head and 300 head above cattle. The enterprises were determined and the enterprises within the population size were chosen and visited randomly by stratified sampling method. During the visit, a 120-item questionnaire was completed and the current biosecurity status was determined. In the study, the basic biosafety rules and the issues about the operation were evaluated. In general, it was found that large capacity enterprises were employed by experts (veterinary, zootechnist) and the principles of biosecurity were applied more strictly and regularly. Targeted with this work is to describe a farm practices that contributes to the management of risks associated with biosafety.