Healthy habits. Healthy animals.

Healthy habits. Healthy animals.

Do you own a small farm or farm animals like pigs, chickens or cows? Learn more about what you can do to keep your farm, your animals, and yourself healthy and safe.

Biosecurity checklist for your farm

Assess the risks on your farm

Shareable resources

Shareable resources promoting strong biosecurity practices

Keeping your farm animals safe

Maintaining biosecurity practices can keep your animals and farm safe from diseases. Follow basic day-to-day rules to reduce the risks to your animals:

  • Use buildings, pens, and fences to stop wildlife and people from entering the animal holding areas, and to isolate newly arrived and sick animals
  • Use signs to inform visitors of biosecurity practices and manage the movement of people and equipment
  • Keep buildings and equipment clean to help reduce the risk of spreading disease
  • Always wear clean clothing
  • Clean and disinfect your footwear and wash your hands before and after handling your animals
  • Provide clean water for your animals and buy feed from reliable sources
  • Protect food and water from wild birds and animals
  • Monitor your animals for signs of disease and call a veterinarian if you think they may be sick
  • Create a personalized plan for your farm and animals to maintain daily safety protocols

Protect yourself and others from avian influenza

The risk of infection is low for the general public. However, people who work with or care for animals are at higher risk of avian influenza infection. Learn how you can reduce your risk:

Additional resources

Basic principles of biosecurity

Measures to keep your farm safe

Know the signs of animal diseases

Learn more to protect your animals' health

Biosecurity for cow owners

Information about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)

Biosecurity for pig owners

Protecting your pigs from African swine fever

Biosecurity tips for small flock and pet bird owners

Basic rules for caring for your birds

Resources on antimicrobial resistance in animals

Materials for livestock owners, veterinarians and pet owners