Background
For McLean Farms, one of Australia’s largest egg producers, ensuring airtight disease prevention has always been a top priority – so poultry operations manager Franswa Venter was pretty surprised when ExoFlare uncovered unidentified risks and biosecurity breaches in the business. In fact, the system flagged 78 breaches on the first day it was in use.
And since then? There’s been a dramatic reduction in flagged biosecurity risks and McLeans has created a more secure future for its own business and the wider industry.
“Biosecurity was always the pinnacle of McLean Farms. We live by the rule that it’s our biggest insurance policy, and we try to get rid of all the weak links because you’re only as good as your weakest link.”
— Franswa Venter, Poultry Operations Manager
The challenge: addressing biosecurity gaps
Franswa says that before implementing ExoFlare, McLean Farms maintained a strong biosecurity framework, but a gap analysis showed it wasn’t able to accurately track vehicle and personnel movements, which increased the risk of disease transmission.
This was in part due to manual record-keeping and limited visibility over external contractor movements, and in part, because visitors to site don’t always share or remember exactly where they have been previously – data points that are captured and retained by ExoFlare.
Without a real-time tracking system, McLean Farms could not quickly identify risks or enforce movement restrictions.“At that point in time, we identified that we had a massive risk within our business,” Franswa says. “We didn’t have reliable records of where our vehicles had been, and we needed a solution to fix that.”
This is important, because one of the key approaches to biosecurity in the egg industry is to minimise the risk of disease spread from places that are more likely to be disease reservoirs to more pathogen-limited environments. This means, for example, having set stand-down periods for visitors who have been to an egg farm with mature birds, to a hatchery with young chickens that are more susceptible to disease.
The solution: ExoFlare’s biosecurity platform
McLean Farms first started a conversation with ExoFlare in March 2022 and moved quickly to implement the platform. The ExoFlare platform provides real-time monitoring and tracking of vehicle and personnel movements, enabling the business to manage biosecurity risks proactively. Franswa says it has integrated fairly seamlessly into McLean Farms’ existing operations. The platform has been implemented across all of McLean Farms’ operations, within and outside the poultry segment, as they are interconnected.
“We treat McLean Farms as one business,” Franswa says. “From the egg side to the feed mill and livestock operations, ExoFlare has been implemented across the board to give us full visibility and control.
“One of Exoflare’s most significant advantages is its ability to rapidly adjust complex quarantine movement matrices based on risk levels. Instead of relying on generic timelines, McLean Farms dynamically adjusts movement restrictions based on the latest disease threats and industry regulations, managing exclusion periods to the hour. The system flags potential biosecurity breaches, allowing the team to respond swiftly.
“It was an eye-opener,” Franswa says. “You think you’re on top of the game, but then you start identifying potential gaps within your business, especially when it comes to traffic control and internal movement control.”
The impact: a dramatic reduction in biosecurity risks
Implementing ExoFlare delivered immediate and transformative results. On the first day of use, ExoFlare flagged 78 high-risk internal movement breaches. Through continuous monitoring and refinement, McLean Farms reduced this number to just 2 to 5 high-risk flagged movements per day. These potential high-risk movements are flagged immediately, so that the nominated host can speak with the visitor to understand what has caused the risk, and what needs to happen to bring the risk down to an acceptable level.
By providing clear visibility and control over farm access, ExoFlare has enabled McLean Farms to:
- Minimise biosecurity risks associated with external visitors and contractors
- Enforce a strict quarantine movement matrix with real-time tracking
- Ensure compliance with biosecurity regulations, particularly in response to avian influenza outbreaks
- Improve response times in the event of a disease incursion, reducing potential economic losses
Leading the way in industry-wide biosecurity
McLean Farms’ commitment to biosecurity goes beyond protecting its own operations. The company recognises the importance of industry-wide collaboration in disease prevention. ExoFlare’s platform offers scalability, allowing businesses of all sizes to strengthen their biosecurity measures.
“More businesses using ExoFlare means better tracking and visibility across the industry, helping all of us prevent and contain disease outbreaks. The more we can track and prevent. The better for all of us, not just for farmers in Queensland but across Australia.”
— Franswa Venter, Poultry Operations Manager
