Good Agricultural Practice

(GAP)/ Good Animal Husbandry

(GAHP) for Poultry Farm
Prepared by Ngan Sonleda
Date: 04 Apr 2023

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 GAP requirements
I. Components of farm
II. Feeding
III. Watering
IV. Farm Management
V. Animal Health
VI. Animal welfare
VII.Transportation and Storage
VIII.Environment
IX. Record keeping

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I. COMPONENTS OF FARM
1- Location
 Have a supply of adequate electrical power, potable water and good access
road
 Not be prone to flooding.
 No risk from contamination of physical, chemical, and biological hazard
 Distance at least 5km from bird collection such as live poultry market,
poultry slaughterhouse or other animal facilities to prevent spreading
disease to farm.

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I. COMPONENTS OF FARM (con’t)
2-Layout
Suitable size for broiler rearing and not crowded
Divided layout for broiler housing, feed storage, equipment storage, carcass destruction,
office area, farm entrance and exit, waste disposal area, toilets and washrooms.
Farm shall have only one entrance and exit, which is equipped with disinfection system.
The broiler rearing area is fenced.
Accommodation and office are distinctively separated and located with sufficient
distance from broiler rearing area. Accommodation shall be well constructed, clean, tidy
and fenced.
Electrical conduits should be properly installed and covered to prevent possible
electrocution.
Layout and emergency procedures shall be placed in the most conspicuous place.

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I. COMPONENTS OF FARM (con’t)
3-Broiler housing
 Should not have protrusion (hole) that can injure broilers.
 Easy to clean, maintain and have good ventilation
 At the entrance of each broiler house, there shall be a disinfectant bath for
boots dipping prior to entering and exit the house.
 If broiler house is an open system, the prevention of other birds and other
disease carriers entering the house shall be applied e.g. a net.
 Lighting intensity of at least 20 lux measured at bird eye level and covering
at least 80% of the rearing area

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II. FEEDING
1- Feed Supply
 Quality and standard of broiler feed shall be complied with the Feed Quality
Control and follow recognized GMP/GHP.
 Feed shall be purchased from licensed suppliers.
 Medicated feed for disease prevention or treatment shall be under
supervision of farm veterinarian and kept separately from other feed with
clear indication.
 Feed container shall be clean, dry and moisture proof.
 Container is never used for containing hazardous substances, fertilizer or
any materials that may be harmful to animals.

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II. FEEDING (con’t)
1- Feed Supply (con’t)
 When accepting broiler feed at farm, check the physical characteristics such
as no rupture of feed bag, correct labeling and no fungal contamination
 Sample of feed should be collected for laboratory test in case of any
problem found in farm
 Feed bag shall be placed on supporting material, like pallet, to obtain good
ventilation and moisture prevention.

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II. FEEDING (con’t)
2 -List of veterinary products and banned chemicals
- The farm should have a list of veterinary products
registered/approved/banned by the country available for viewing.
- The farm must have a list of chemicals that are regulated and banned by the
country available for viewing.
- Feeds must not contain banned ingredients, chemicals and veterinary drugs.

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III. WATERING
 Potable water should be used
 Non-potable water must be treated to comply with standards
 Water source used on farm shall be from an area not contaminated by
animal manure or waste water from broiler housing or residential area.
 The water sanitizing system is checked regularly and at least once for every
batch of chickens.
 Water samples shall be tested at least once a year for microbials (E.coli and
faecal coliforms), hardness and toxic substances.
 If underground water is used, it shall be complied with the underground
potable water standard.

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT
1-Farm manual:
The farm must have an organizational chart.
Farm shall have farm management manual as below:
 broiler housing preparation
 chick brooding
 broiler feed
 broiler drinking water
 pest and disease carrier control and eradication

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
1-Farm manual (con’t)
 Animal health management
o Vaccination programmed
o Randomly check disease situation and flock immunity,
o Sick and dead chicken management,
o Veterinary drug use
 Sanitation and environmental management
o Light
o Temperature
o Humidity
o Ventilation
o Waste disposal

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
2-Personnel
 Farm shall have sufficient personnel according to the number of broilers
 First aid kits and fire extinguishers should be easily available and accessible at all times.
 Accident and emergency management procedures should be available with clear
instructions for all workers
 Keeper means person who is responsible for broiler and trained for broiler rearing.
(1) open system: one keeper should be taking care of broilers to the maximum of 10,000
birds
(2) (2) close system: one keeper should be taking care of broilers to the maximum of
100,000 birds

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
2-Personnel (con’t)
 Supervisor means animal husbandry person or others who are trained on
animal husbandry from recognized institute. Supervisor who holds
minimum degree in Bachelor of Animal Husbandry or Animal Science shall
supervise broiler rearing to the maximum number of 1,000,000 birds in his
responsibility
 Veterinarian means person who supervises animal health and hygienic farm
operation as well as animal welfare. A veterinarian should be responsible to
the maximum number of 5,000,000 birds

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
2-Personnel (con’t)
 Persons who take care of broiler shall have knowledge and experiences on
broiler rearing. They shall be trained and improved continuously. Training
shall be recorded as individual file
 Personnel shall have good hygiene and personal health checkup at least
once a year. Any person who is sick or injured from such as diarrhea, vomit,
sore throat, fever, shall be refrained from work in broiler house and his/her
sickness shall be reported to the farm manager
 Personnel must have strong personal hygiene practice and have enough PPE
(personal protective equipment) for poultry farm.

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
3-Cleaning and maintenance
 Equipment used for broiler rearing such as feeders and drinkers shall be
thoroughly cleaned
 Immediate surrounding area of broiler house of at least 3 meter radius shall be
clean, clear and no garbage
 Wet or lumpy litter shall be removed from broiler house immediately
 The major tools and equipment shall be checked at least once a day e.g. necessary
automatic equipment for animal welfare, if defected, it shall be immediately fixed
 After depopulation, cleaning and disinfection of broiler house and equipment shall
be done and a downtime period of at least 14 days shall be observed before
introducing of a new flock

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
4-Hygiene and sanitation
 Personal Hygiene:
- Workers must wear appropriate protective clothing and foot wear at all
times that can be sanitized and if necessary with masks.
- Workers must enter clean areas first then move to dirty areas
- Downtime/quarantine must be observed before entering the production area
for workers coming from outside the farm

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
 General Farm Hygiene:
- Only approved chemicals by competent authorities in the country must be used for cleaning
and sanitation (refer to Codex Alimentarius3 for list of approved chemicals)
- The farm should have appropriate equipment and tools for effective and functional hygiene
and sanitation operation.
- The farm shall have cleaning and disinfection procedure in place.
 Pest control:
- Farm premises should be maintained in a good condition to prevent possible vermin
infestation.
- The farm must have pest control programs to reduce or eliminate pests including rodents and
insects.
- Only approved chemicals and baits must be used in pest control programs

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IV. FARM MANAGEMENT (con’t)
 Waste management:
- Litter, solid (including biohazard waste) and liquid waste should be managed and
disposed according to the country’s regulations
- The farm operator should maintain and display clear instructions on procedure for
disposal of farm solid wastes and farm chemical wastes (e.g. expired pesticide/herbicide
and containers, paint, etc.).
- Dead chickens should be buried properly, incinerated or disposed in a manner that
complies with country regulations
- Toilet septic tanks must be maintained so that potential overflows will be avoided.
- Effluent ponds must be located away from farming operations and must not overflow.
- Any waste water treatment process must be properly functional.
- Waste water from farms shall be treated before discharging into public water resources.
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V. ANIMAL HEALTH
1-Introduction of new stock
- Acquire chickens only from sources with known good health status,
certified by a qualified veterinarian and/or competent authority
- Keep newly arrived chickens separate from resident stock
- Each batch of chickens purchased or hatched must have batch identification
for traceability purposes

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V. ANIMAL HEALTH
2-Disease Prevention and Control
 Broilers shall come from the identifiable sources i.e. breeder farms, breeder flocks, hatcheries
 Available of prevention and control measures of diseases including into farm by persons,
vehicles and other equipment.
 Limit non-essential visitors to the farm
 Farm gate shall be locked at all times
 Keep a record of visitors and vehicles in and out of the farm, including the time, for inspection
 Identified isolation area/pen for “suspected diseased birds” must be provided.
 Inspection of all chickens for any abnormalities shall be carried out at least twice a day, for
instance inspection for any disease symptom or appearance of chicken in order to control
diseases

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V. ANIMAL HEALTH (con’t)
2-Disease Prevention and Control (con’t)
 Persons entering the farm shall have their shoes and hands disinfected at the farm
entrance. Persons who enter the broiler rearing area shall pass through the
disinfecting and showering room, and change clothing provided by the farm
 Disinfecting and showering room:
1) changing facility for protective clothing and footwear before entering the
disinfecting room;
2) disinfecting room provided with sufficient space, non-slippery floor and non-
irritant disinfectant for user;
3) showering room after passing disinfecting room;
4) changing facility before entering broiler house.

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V. ANIMAL HEALTH (con’t)
3-Management of sick chickens
 Management of dead chickens: if the mortality rate is abnormal, the farm veterinarian shall dissect
the chicken carcasses to determine the preliminary cause of disease
 Destruction of chicken carcasses:
(1) Destruction by burial: shall be sufficient space and high terrain from flooding. Carcasses are buried
at the depth of not less than 50 cm. Proper disinfectants shall be poured or scattered over every part
of the carcasses, then filling the pit with a mound piled above the ground level at least 50 cm
(2) Destruction by burning. There shall be burning place or incinerator installed in proper area for
complete burning.
3) Destruction by rendering. Procedures for moving of chicken carcasses to rendering plant shall be
complied with the biosecurity principles.
4) Destruction by decomposing. Procedures for carcass decomposition shall be complied with the
biosecurity principles.

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V. ANIMAL HEALTH (con’t)
4-Treatment of diseases
 Treatment of animal diseases and use of veterinary drugs including hazardous
substances on farm shall be under supervision of the farm veterinarian.
 The farm should maintain updated records of medicine purchase and administration
that should be readily available for inspection.
 It is prohibited to use growth promoting hormones and banned substances as stipulated
 The use of antibiotics or medicated feeds for disease control must be in accordance
with the instructions of a veterinarian following country regulations
 Keep all treated chickens on the farm and ensure that these animals and/or their
products are not used for human consumption until the drug withdrawal period is
completed and certified fit for human consumption by veterinarians.
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V. ANIMAL HEALTH (con’t)
5-Laboratory testing:
- Routine testing should be carried out by accredited laboratories for surveillance and/or
monitoring.
- In case of reportable disease outbreak, testing must be conducted in an
approved/accredited laboratory and must continue until it can be shown that the disease
has been controlled.
6-Protocols when disease is suspected:
- If there is an outbreak or suspicion of epidemic disease, the farm must follow the
requirements of the laws and regulations
- Emergency biosecurity procedures must be followed (refer to ASEAN biosecurity
management manual for commercial poultry farming and biosecurity protocols for
poultry).

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VI. ANIMAL WELFARE
 Number of broilers in broiler house shall not be too crowded.
 Broilers are taken care of good health, normal growth rate and can express
normal behavior
 Broiler health shall be regularly checked at an appropriate time. Immediate
action for sick, injured and deformed chickens should be carried out to put
them from suffering and illness

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VII. ENVIRONMENT
 Garbage, discarded carcasses, and other waste such as manure shall be
removed to prevent odor and pathogens. Carcasses of disease carriers such
as bird and rat shall be destroyed by burial or burning.
 After final depopulation, litter shall be sprayed with disinfectant before
removal from broiler house to avoid litter scattering during transport from
farm
 Reuse of litter is not allowed
 Used water for cleaning broiler house and equipment after depopulation and
downtime shall be treated before release to public water resources

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VIII. Transportation and Storage
1-Transportation:
- The transport should not cause stress and does not pre dispose to injury and
disease to chicken
- Vehicles must be cleaned before using to transport chicken
- Vehicles used to transport chickens must be exclusively used for chicken
transport only
2-Storage:
- Have facilities for proper storage, kept cleaned at all time
- Have good ventilation and vermin proof
- FIFO practiced

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IX. DOCUMENTATION AND RECORD KEEPING
 The records of important information shall be kept for a period of at least three
years.
 Document to be keep as following:
1. The information on farm administration
- Organization chart of farm - Animal health information,
- Personnel and training history records - Number of employees
- Job description
2. The information on production management
- Data relating to broilers - Feed and drinking water for broilers
- Farm management- Animal heath - Disease prevention and control
- Waste disposal.

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IX. Documentation and Record Keeping
Farmers should keep records:
- Transportation records;
- Storage records;
- Feed records;
- Animal Health (Treatment and
Vaccination) records;
- Personnel Health records;
- Visitor records
- Breed records;
- Laboratory records;
- Sanitation and Hygiene records;
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- Pest control records;
- Training records;
- Waste management records;
- Production records;
- Procurement records;
- Traceability records (e.g.
animal/lot/batch ID, customer
record, etc.).
**Records must be kept for a
minimum of 3 years or a time
specified by Government directives. 29
Refferences
• https://www.acfs.go.th/standard/download/eng/GAP_broiler_farm.pdf :Thai
GAP standard for Broiler Farm.
• https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ASEAN-Food-Safety-Mo
dule-GAHP-For-Layers-and-Broilers.pdf

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