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Biosecurity Planning Guide for Canadian Goat Producers
3 Glossary of Terms

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The first occurrence of each term in the glossary has been identified in the document with bold text.

Accredited:
Approved or recognized as meeting a prescribed standard
Acute:
Rapid onset or short duration
Anteroom:
A physical space within the production area or barn where there is a transition zone that defines a dirty and clean area where boots and clothing can be changed, and hand washing performed
Anthelmintic:
An agent, usually a drug, which is destructive to worms (internal parasites)
Barn:
A farm building used for storing farm products and sheltering livestock
Bio-containment:
Reducing the spread of infectious agents between goat farms or from goat farms to other animal populations
Bio-exclusion:
Reducing the introduction of infectious agents to goats on the farm
Biologics:
Medical preparations made from living organisms or their products; examples include vaccines, toxoids, serum, and antigens
Bio-management:
Reducing the spread of infectious agents among goats within a farm
Biosecurity:
A health plan or measures designed to protect a population from transmissible infectious agents
Biosecurity protocols:
Those measures specific to a goat operation used to prevent the introduction and the spread of disease within an animal population and from that goat operation
Cleaning:
Involves washing with detergent in order to remove all organic matter, and includes both a dry (scraping and brushing) and wet clean
Commingling:
Mixing of animals from different farms or groups resulting in direct or close indirect contact among them
Community pasture:
A public grazing area shared by more than one producer and not owned by a single producer
Confinement area:
Any pen that is used to confine a single goat or a group of goats to temporarily separate them from others in the herd, and/or to allow producers, veterinarians or service providers to work with them away from the rest of the herd
Controlled access point (CAP):
A visually-defined entry point through which all traffic (vehicles, people, animals, inputs and equipment) enter a CAZ and a RAZ; specific biosecurity protocols may be in place
Controlled access zone (CAZ):
A designated area where biosecurity protocols are in place and monitored and livestock are managed (e.g., a location or primary location); accessible to people, equipment, vehicles and livestock only through a securable (e.g., lockable) controlled access point
Cria:
A young camelid (llama, vicuna, or alpaca)
Cross-contamination:
The act of mixing a material, especially a material that is potentially infectious, with another material, thereby introducing the risk that a contaminant could be transferred to an animal; for example, infectious agents shed by sick or carrier animals can be transferred from manure to feed by the use of a common bucket or shovel
Direct contact:
Any form of close contact in which goats can physically touch one another, including all forms of nose-to-nose contact
Disease(s) of Concern:
Those diseases that pose a high risk to the health and productivity of a herd;
can be farm-specific or applicable to an entire region or country
Disinfection:
The use of a disinfectant, i.e. a chemical that can kill microorganisms, on objects and surfaces after organic material has been cleaned away; disinfectants are not used on live animals
Dry pack:
A bedding approach that is formed by adding more bedding on top of the existing bedding to reduce the frequency of manure removal. A bedded pack can stay dry and warm but it is important to clean it out periodically. Urine moves down through the pack, leaving the top relatively dry; however, packs tend to have high bacteria counts if insufficient bedding is not added daily.
Endemic:
Continued presence of a disease in a specific population or area
Family members:
Any family members who work on the farm, whether they live there or not
Farm worker:
A person who works on the goat operation; may include family members
Goat operations:
All of the activities involved in raising goats and working with goat products, including meat, dairy and fibre
Health status:
Current state of health of the animal or herd, including both its condition and any infectious agents present in the animal or herd
Heat treatment:
Procedure used to prepare colostrum for newborn consumption; involves heating the product for 1 hour at 56°C
Herd of origin:
Herd within which the animal was born
Identified risk area:
Any area on the premises that has an increased likelihood of disease introduction and/or transmission; this may be due to the nature of the activity that occurs in the area and/or the group of animals that are housed within
Immunity:
Resistance to infection and/or disease
Incubation:
The period of time between exposure to an infectious agent and the onset of clinical signs of disease
Indirect contact:
Any form of contact between goats that involves shared contact with inanimate objects (surfaces, equipment, feed, water, and bedding); does not involve any physical contact
Infectious agent:
A microbial pathogen that has the potential to cause disease (bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, protozoa, and prions); agents may be shed from an infected animal that appears healthy and is either incubating disease, recovering from disease, or is a carrier without symptoms. Routes of shedding include saliva, milk, respiratory secretions, feces, urine, epidermal shedding, and uterine or vaginal discharges. After shedding, infectious agents can persist in the environment and be transmitted indirectly. For example, the tetanus agent can persist for years in the soil and can still be infectious.
Infectious disease:
Disease caused by an infectious agent
Isolation:
Restricting an animal to a location that is physically separate from other livestock. The purpose of isolating an animal is usually to prevent it from transmitting a disease to another animal or acquiring disease from another animal, either because it is known to be diseased or because its disease status is currently unknown. The location is known as an isolation facility.
Loading area:
An area that is designated for the loading and unloading of animals; this is not just the ramp but it also includes any holding area and handling facilities used for this purpose
Mammal:
Any warm-blooded vertebrate of the Class Mammalia, the females of which have milk-producing mammary glands for nourishing young. Other common characteristics include a thoracic diaphragm and, typically, a covering of hair or fur. Examples include whales, humans, carnivores, rodents, goats and bats.
Mortality:
A measure of the number of deaths in a population
Necropsy:
A post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death; may involve only gross examination, or additional sampling and laboratory testing for infectious agents and/or toxins
Oocyst:
The development stage of certain protozoan parasites that follows fertilization of the egg. Oocysts have a strong protective covering that allows them to persist in the environment for extended periods of time and withstand many disinfectants.
Other livestock:
Animals other than goats that are used for food or fibre production, work, guardian activity and recreation; specifically sheep, cattle (dairy, beef, veal), horses, bison, water buffalo, farmed deer or elk, alpacas, llamas, swine, chickens, turkeys and fowl
Pastures:
Fenced areas used for livestock grazing at any time of year; can include multi-use fields (e.g., graze after haying or aftermath feeding)
Pests and wildlife:
Includes all non-livestock and non-domestic animals and birds, and insects that may pose a health risk (disease and/or predatory) to the goat herd
Pets:
Cats, dogs and any other household pet kept by the farm family, their neighbours and/or staff
Practice:
General procedure that is followed by a producer, and not necessarily documented or detailed to the extent of a protocol
Premises:
A defined area of land with all accompanying structures
Prion:
An infectious agent in the form of an abnormally folded protein; causes normal prion proteins, which are most commonly found in the brain, to misfold
Protocol:
Description of a practice or method, usually written in a standard format that applies to a specific activity and has an intended result or outcome
Protozoan parasite:
A single-celled organism that can invade and inhabit cells and tissues of other living organisms
Reportable disease:
Those diseases that are outlined in the Health of Animals Act and Reportable Diseases Regulations and are usually of significant importance to human or animal health, or to the Canadian economy. Animal owners, veterinarians, and laboratories are required to immediately report the presence of an animal that is contaminated or suspected of being contaminated with one of these diseases to a CFIA district veterinarian. Control or eradication measures will be applied immediately. Some provinces also have a list of reportable diseases and required response actions.
Restricted access zone (RAZ):
An area inside the controlled access zone where goats are housed and where access by people or equipment is further restricted
Sanitizer:
A product that kills some micro-organisms and is designed to be used on living tissue or food contact surfaces (e.g., hands, in the milk parlour or milk house); also called an antiseptic
Service provider:
A person, company or organization that provides goods or services to farms on a professional basis, including feed and feed additives suppliers, veterinarians, hoof trimmers, shearing or combing technicians, live animal transporters, deadstock pickup services, manure management, and many others. The nature of service providers' activities on a farm, especially their closeness to or interaction with the herd, determines the relative risk of disease transmission that they represent.
Shedding:
Transmission of an infectious agent from an individual to another individual or to the environment; can occur in the absence of clinical signs (i.e., before the onset of clinical signs, after recovery from disease, or as a carrier)
Signalment:
Information relating to an animal's age, sex and breed
Source herd:
The herd from which goats, sperm and/or embryos are purchased; may also be the herd of origin
Standard operating procedure (SOP):
A written set of explicit instructions for carrying out a specific task
Susceptible:
Lacking sufficient resistance or immunity and therefore at higher risk of infection and disease
Traceability:
The ability to follow a product through all stages of the supply chain
Trigger point:
A threshold data point (e.g., percentage drop in milk production) or significant observation (e.g., cluster of abortions) that leads to further action (e.g., contact herd veterinarian, move goat to isolation area)
Verified:
Proven to be truthful or accurate
Veterinary client patient relationship (VCPR):
A veterinary client patient relationship (VCPR) requires on-farm visits at least annually and before prescribing and/or selling medications if the animal health situation changes
Visitor:
A non-service provider visiting the herd
Working / guardian animals:
Includes dogs (e.g., guardian dogs, herding dogs), llamas, donkeys, and horses that have contact with and are used to manage the goats for purposes such as moving the goats, or guarding the goats from predators
Zoonotic disease:
An infectious disease that can be transmitted (in some instances, by an insect) from animals, both wild and domestic, to humans or from humans to animals
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