After a four-month hiatus, avian flu is back in Minnesota — and it’s hit close to home, leaving big poultry producers and small backyard flock owners alike scrambling to safeguard chickens and turkeys from infection.
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health reported earlier this month that a backyard flock in Le Sueur County had tested positive for the disease, leading to a site quarantine and the elimination of a mixed flock containing a total of 114 chicken, ducks and geese.
This particular highly pathogenic influenza strain is the same one that bedeviled poultry since last year, infecting more than 58 million backyard or commercial birds across 49 states. Iowa has been the epicenter of the outbreak, with nearly 16 million birds killed.
Coupled with inflationary pressures, the worst avian influenza outbreak in U.S. history led egg prices to soar from $1.93 per dozen in January 2022 to $4.82 a year later, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The price of chicken breast increased by roughly a dollar per pound.
While health care and advanced manufacturing may be growing, agriculture remains the backbone of Minnesota’s economy and robust poultry production is a vital part of that. The state produces more turkeys than any other and is in the top 10 chicken producing states as well.
In Faribault, the Jennie-O Turkey Store plant is one of the city’s largest employers. During the last major outbreak of avian flu in 2015, which prompted the culling of over 9 million turkeys, the plant was forced to temporarily lay off 223 employees.
Last year’s outbreak of avian flu didn’t have quite the same effect on Jennie-O, even though the company took a big hit when a crucial supplier in Meeker County was hit with the virus, leading to the culling of roughly 300,000 turkeys.
Overall, Minnesota ranked fifth in the nation last year with about 4.2 million birds culled, according to the USDA. However, the state ranks first in the number of cases detected in wild birds. Foxes and skunks across the state have also been found to carry the disease.
Now, huge flocks of migratory birds flying north represent additional vectors for the disease. Through droppings and nasal discharges, they can spread the virus from one flock to another, and while farmers hope that birds have built up some immunity, no vaccine is available.
One factor that may make it easier for the disease to spread is the proliferation of small flocks in residential backyards. More and more communities are allowing people to own pet chickens, and while they generally require licensing and training, keeping avian flu at bay can be a challenge even for professional operations.
Rice County Farmers Union President Steven Read said that last year’s outbreak served as a clear wakeup call for small flock keepers. With many cases discovered among backyard flocks, owners quickly discovered that their birds were no less susceptible to the flu than birds at big poultry farms.
“There’s a lot more concern about backyard poultry producers now,” Read said. “They have to be careful with biosecurity.”
Source: southernminn.com
Photo Credit: GettyImages-Anna Tarazevich
Categories: Minnesota, Livestock, Poultry