A national biosecurity program for horses is a necessary addition to the Canadian horse industry, said an Alberta member on the biosecurity committee.
Dr. Wayne Burwash said a voluntary biosecurity protocol will help prevent the spread of disease and make people more aware of biosecurity on their farm or at their boarding stable.
“It’s designed to set some standards and best practices to try and stop disease coming on to the place, or if disease is on the place, to have some protocol or procedures in place to stop its spread,” said Burwash, a Calgary veterinarian and director with the Canadian Quarter Horse Association.
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If critical products are unavailable when needed, it could result in unnecessary human and animal deaths in the worst-case scenario.
A good equine biosecurity program should help prevent disease and its spread on the farm and at venues such as agricultural societies, racetracks and auction markets, he said. Disease is becoming a bigger concern be-cause of the increased movement of horses across the country.
Burwash pointed to the equine herpes virus outbreak in Ogden, Utah, in 2011 during a national cutting horse competition. Horses contracted the virus at the event and returned to their home states to spread the disease.
Having protocol in place to deal with biosecurity would have helped limit the spread of the disease, he said.
“It would serve some small farms with very little or no movement to large venues like Spruce Meadows or Calgary Stampede,” he said.
Burwash said Alberta and Sask-atchewan have biosecurity protocols, but there are no national equine biosecurity protocols in place.
“The primary goal is to draw something up that would serve the entire country,” he said.
“There weren’t any good guidelines for people to follow.”
Burwash hopes the proposed biosecurity protocol will encourage horse owners and venue managers to take a closer look at their biosecurity.
“General awareness is as important as the actual procedures people may put in place.”
Horse owners have until the beginning of June to submit proposed changes to the National Farm Level Biosecurity Standard for Horses in Canada document, which is now being circulated.
A second document will provide guidelines for disinfecting stalls between horses. It will include suggestions on what products can be used, their efficacy and other general guidelines.
The horse committee comprises a cross section of interested people from breed associations, sport horse associations, academics and extension personal.
“I think this is an excellent project,” he said. “This serves the industry really well and we hope it prevents a lot of disease.”
