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Conditions similar to onset of 2015 avian flu outbreak

The executive director of the Iowa Turkey Federation says conditions are similar to those at the onset of the 2015 avian influenza outbreak.

Gretta Irwin tells Brownfield recent cycles of unseasonably warm weather followed by cold in many parts of the Midwest are reminiscent of two years ago, when the first cases of avian flu were detected in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

“The weather was warm, the birds started migrating a little earlier.  Then it cooled off, and you could really see those birds kind of ‘backing up’ in Iowa and not going further north because of the weather patterns.”

High path avian flu was detected in a Tennessee broiler breeder flock in early March, and is suspected in three developing cases in Alabama.

There was also a case of low path AI found at a Jenni-O Turkey operation in western Wisconsin last week.

Irwin says that’s very concerning because all locations are within the Mississippi Flyway.

“If they happen to be one of those birds with one of these viruses, then those viruses become much more a part of that populated community and could impact turkey farmers.  So biosecurity, eliminating the number of people on our farms.  And just watching our foot traffic, because that’s the number one way (the virus) is going to get into our barns is on our feet.”

She says poultry producers should go to great lengths to make their sites less attractive to migratory waterfowl, which include eliminating puddles on barn premises.

Brownfield interviewed Irwin at the 2017 Midwest Poultry Federation convention in St. Paul Wednesday.