THE key to minimising pest and disease risks amid the advent of tree-change hobby farming lies with veterinarians and producers sharing knowledge and experience.
That’s the word from Dr Patrick Kluver, who has extensive experience in endemic and exotic disease control and is the Victorian regional officer with the Livestock Biosecurity Network.
The LBN is an independent initiative established by the Cattle Council of Australia, Sheepmeat Council of Australia and Wool Producers Australia
Dr Kluver said small lot holders played an important role in Australia’s rural landscape and we would be culturally poorer without them.
They posed a biosecurity risk to mainstream farming that was not necessarily higher than professional farmers but they required specific tailored messages that reflect their background and aspirations, he said.
Dr Kluver was a keynote speaker at the Australian Veterinary Association conference in Adelaide in May, where his message was vets and producers could play an important role in educating this sector.
Rural Australia had experienced a demographic shift in the past 40 years from a landscape dominated by large commercial family farms to one where large farms are interspersed with rural residential properties and weekenders, he said.
Following the conference, he said in any area that could be described as verdant and high amenity, 40 to 80 per cent of farms were now small lots, where property owners were dependent on off-farm income.
“Despite agricultural production being increasingly concentrated in large farms in recent decades, the majority of Australia’s farms are comparatively small,” he said.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show in 2010-11, just over half - 55 per cent - of farms had an estimated value of less than $100,000.
Around 36 per cent of farms across Australia were less than 50 hectares.
“These small farms also turn over at a reasonably rapid rate - around 7pc each year,” Dr Kluver said.
The biosecurity risks come with some small lot holders being inexperienced, unaware of those risks and not part of the broader farming community or seeing themselves to be outside the mainstream farming sector, he said.
The big threat was the inadvertent introduction of foot and mouth disease and the high risk was probably swill feeding of pigs, illegal in all states.
“Small lot holders pose a risk to other farms and this is played out all the time, whether it be failure to control weeds or prevent sheep with lice from straying,” Dr Kluver said.
“Some small lot holders also partake in practices which are high risk such as sharing bulls or rams or informally trading livestock online.
“Informal trading means traceability is compromised and will slow or hinder control in the event of an emergency animal disease outbreak.”
Dr Kluver said that just as in mainstream farming, the majority of people were good operators but there were the less-than-ideal situations like the absentee landholder who only checks on a property every second week.
He advised hobby farmers to connect with a professional farmer to understand their obligations and risks better.
“Everyone who keeps stock, grows crop or plants a vegetable garden has an obligation to understand their biosecurity responsibilities,” Dr Kluver said.
“That means being aware of the risks, seeking to manage the risks in the most appropriate way possible and fulfilling legal obligations in keeping the livestock industry free from biosecurity impacts that can affect trade.
“Most biosecurity measures are cheap and have a payoff that is immediate, ongoing and cumulative.”
Templates for a biosecurity plan can be obtained from the LBN and www.farm biosecurity.com.au.