Farm biosecurity - measures to prevent introduction and spread of infectious disease - protects both animal welfare and public health while reducing antibiotic use.
Livestock biosecurity is a welfare imperative: preventing infectious disease eliminates enormous suffering at scale. Diseases like FMD, ASF, and avian influenza cause acute suffering in affected animals and result in mass culling of healthy animals as a disease control measure. The welfare cost of a biosecurity failure is therefore far greater than the animals that die from disease alone. Implementing and maintaining biosecurity is both a welfare duty and a legal requirement for many pathogens. Consumer awareness of biosecurity as a welfare issue can drive support for precautionary trade policies.