Species: Pigs
Country: Worldwide
General
The COMBAT tool was developed by Boehringer Ingelheim and aims to give the farmer a customized
breakdown of it farm’s biosecurity with recommendations on how to effectively reduce biosecurity risks.
Internal as well as external biosecurity are assessed but the main focus is on biosecurity measures
important to reduce the introduction and spread of PRRS virus. The tool is freely available online.
Data collection
Completing the COMBAT questionnaire is voluntary and can be done by any person interested such as
the farm veterinary advisor, the herd veterinarian, an external auditor from industry or by the farm
worker or manager (self-evaluation). The person interviewed during the evaluation is preferably the
farm owner or manager. There are two questionnaires that can be completed. The first one is an
extended questionnaire with numerous questions split in different categories and the second one is a
fast questionnaire with a limited number of questions to give a quick overview. Information on the
implementation of internal as well as external biosecurity measures is collected but with a focus on the
measures most important to prevent introduction and spread of PRRS virus.
Data analysis, reporting and benchmarking
The answers to the questions are analysed automatically and a report is immediately created. After
completing a section of questions in the extended questionnaire an intermediate report with a risk
profile for that section is visible. After completing the full questionnaire the farm gets a general risk
profile and the different answers are broken down in different risk areas. Based on the answers,
recommendations are given for actions that can be taken on the farm to decrease the level of risk. It is
also possible to see how the risk profile changes according to specific actions that are selected.
Furthermore, benchmarking is done by comparing the farm with similar production systems or the
country average.
More information – contact
COMBAT | PRRS.com
