Producer organizations and governments now have access to an animal disease mapping tool that enables rapid response to control spread. Farm Health FastMaps is a new tool developed by Farm Health Guardian, a biosecurity management software provider, that allows mappers to quickly create control zones and communicate with farms that may be at risk.
“We know that early response and communication are key to preventing pathogen spread and limiting the negative impacts of an outbreak,” explains Rob Hannam, CEO of Farm Health Guardian. “This tool will help disease mappers within producer organizations or with governments to easily establish zones where heightened biosecurity and communication are needed.”
The mapping tool provides Farm Health FastMaps users with the ability to draw customized radius and polygon quarantine zones in an area and then instantly generate a list of all farm properties within the zone, including contact information. Wind speed and direction can easily be factored in to further identify properties that may be at risk from windborne pathogen transmission. These enhancements can assist in rerouting transportation to avoid hot zones and offer a communications tool to help at-risk farms take early action before a disease gets out of hand.
“Anything that will make disease mapping and communications easier and faster will help in reducing the transmission of highly pathogenic diseases, like PRRS in swine or avian influenza in poultry,” says Hannam. “Developments like Farm Health FastMaps are so important to reduce the threat of devastating diseases, and are why we’re working to improve animal health and welfare through digital technology.”
To learn more about Farm Health Guardian, visit farmhealthguardian.com
