News

Increasing biosecurity measures

Avian influenza is one of the biggest concerns for poultry producers around the country.

Darrell Glaser, owner of Bar G Ranch and Turkey Farm in Rogers, Texas says the potential for the disease to spread even more will increase this fall.  “When the migratory water fowl start flying again the chance is going to be there across the entire United States to see the disease come back up,” he says.  “We just hope it doesn’t raise its head in our area.  But the potential will be there.  As those things start to happen we have to be extremely careful.”

Glaser tells Brownfield that means implementing more stringent biosecurity practices.  “If we see migratory birds, especially geese landing on any of our fields we need to be very careful about going in to any of those areas and then going back to our turkey farm,” he says.  “That will be something that will maybe change the way how we check cattle and we check fields.”

Glaser says current biosecurity protocols include a disinfectant foot bath at every entryway into and out of the facility to kill any outside bacteria that could be carried on an employee’s shoes.

Glaser raises about 600,000 turkeys annually.