The 8 farms involved in this study (4 Standard and 4 Freedom Food Indoor farms) were randomly chosen from a list provided by a large UK poultry producer (Table 4.2). All farms were located at different geographical locations in North Wales and the Northwest of England (Figure 4.4).
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All contacted farmers consented to be part of the study. All the farms were relatively small, with 3 or 4 broiler houses. The houses were closed, insulated and with regulated temperature and ventilation. They were equipped with automatic feeding and drinking systems. Drinking water for the birds was obtained from disinfected water from an intermediate storage tank filled by the mains water supply. For each farm, a target house was selected for the sampling, and the same target house was used for the duration of the study.
Only three farms (all Standard ones) were owned by the integrated poultry producer. In those farms the same bio-security practices were observed. The first hygiene barrier was located at the entry of the farm premises where there was a designated visitors’ car park. At this point, visitors entering the farm were required to wear protective clothing (overalls, boots and masks). Boots were provided on site. A second hygiene barrier was located in the anteroom of each broiler house; it included hand-washing and sanitisation facilities and required a change of boots. Furthermore, before entering into the flock the boots were sanitised using foot dips. In these farms, the ‘all in all out’ policy was applied to the entire farm, as the chicks’ placement was carried out the same day in all the broiler houses. During the farm visits, no obvious differences were identified in terms of farm management, design of buildings and general tidiness in all three company farms.
The rest of the farms (one Standard and four Freedom Food farms) were tied to the integrated poultry producer by long-term contracts that included the supply of day-old chicks and feed, and management supervision. No hygiene barrier at the farm gate was in place in these farms. The first hygiene barrier was located directly at the entry
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of the broiler houses, which required the wearing of protective clothing (overalls, boots and masks). Boots were not provided on site, and disposable ones were used for each visit by the visiting researcher. Changing of footwear was not requested when entering into the broiler flock. However, boots were sanitised through the use of foot dips placed at the entry of the broiler house and in the anteroom.
Two farms selected for this study (Farm 4 and Farm 5) belonged to the same family and were located in the same farm yard. Farm 4 had two houses which produced Standard birds. Farm 5 had two newer houses which belonged to the Freedom Food scheme.
Two more Freedom Food farms (Farm 2 and Farm 7) selected in this study belonged to the same family business. The two sites were 2 miles apart and they were run and managed by the same staff. The staff did not change working clothes when moving from one site to the other. According to commercial requests by the integrated poultry company, both farms reared at the same time Freedom Food flocks together with Standard flocks in different broiler houses. This meant that the whole farms were never empty, as chicks belonging to the different production systems were placed on the farms at different times, according to the poultry company’s demand.
The last contract Freedom Food farm that was studied (Farm 8), belonged to a small poultry business that had 2 more poultry farms located in the Northern part of the UK, which raised Standard birds. Different members of staff worked on the three different poultry sites. However, the farm management was the same in all three farms and they made regular visits between the different sites.
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In all investigated farms, DEFRA approved disinfectants were used in the foot dip facilities. However the brands of these chemicals used were different in all farms. Farm staff was monitored during the visits and were always observed cleaning their boots by immersing them into the foot dip facilities before entering into the poultry flock. Despite this, no systems were in place to verify the concentration of the disinfectants used. Furthermore the water in the foot dip was not changed systematically, but it was changed only when considered dirty by the farm manager.
In all four Standard farms, female and male birds were kept separated inside the house. Female birds (pullets) were sent to slaughter at around 2.21 kg (95% CI 2.19- 2.23) at around 39 days (95% CI 38.70-39.27). At that point, in the farms the fences inside the sheds were removed and male chickens (cockerels) were allowed to take up all the space in the sheds, reaching an average weight per bird of more than 4kg at slaughter which occurred 10-12 days after the first depopulation (at around 51 days, 95% CI 50.91-51.42). The above thinning practice, did not happen in any of the Freedom Food farms, as partial depopulation of the flock is not advisable by their internal regulation (RSPCA 2011) and female and male chickens were not kept segregated inside the broilers in any of the Freedom Food farms investigated.
In all 8 farms selected, birds were kept on litter which mainly consisted of wood shavings and the birds had free access to water and feed. At the end of each production cycle, all litter was completely removed and the broiler house was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. The house was then kept empty to dry, and the downtime between flocks ranged between 1-2 weeks in all investigated farms. In all company farms at the end of each production cycle, 10 swabs per farm were taken and
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sent to the company laboratory to verify the final cleaning and disinfection procedures. However, microbiological results were not available on site. All farms operated a rodent control programme and no other livestock farms were adjacent to the studied farms.
Farm ID Farm Code C/P Type of Production No. Houses Total m2 Total birds Stocking Density Breed
1 Long ST1 C Standard 4 6420 106400 38 Ross 308 2 Long FB1 P Freedom
Food 3 3012 50100 30
Hubbard JA57 3 Long ST2 P Standard 3 4815 79800 38 Ross 308 4 Long ST3 C Standard 2 6075 100900 38 Ross 308 5 Long FB2 C Freedom
Food 2 6075 100900 30
Hubbard JA57 6 Long ST4 P Standard 3 4815 79800 38 Ross 308 7 Long FB3 C Freedom Food 4 6738 54800 30 Hubbard JA57 8 Long FB4 C Freedom Food 3 4815 79800 30 Hubbard JA57
Table 4.3: Farms summary (C=Contract farm, P=Company farm)