Farmers and agriculture officials are gearing up for another round of bird flu this fall, an outbreak they fear could be worse than the devastating spring crisis that hit egg layers and turkeys in the Midwest, wiped out entire farms and sent egg prices sky-high.
The potential target of the highly pathogenic avian flu this fall could be broilers, or meat chickens, as the outbreaks have been triggered and carried by wild birds, which will be flying south in great numbers this fall through several U.S. flyways.
The farmers who got hit this spring, which lead to the destruction of , know how life-changing a flu outbreak can be.
The Moline family of Manson, Iowa, has been raising turkeys for 91 years. But for most of this summer, their barns were empty and quiet, with no birds or no fans running to keep the barns ventilated. Instead, all hands were on deck with the recovery from the bird flu outbreak.
In May, Brad Moline found 90 dead birds. Lab tests confirmed they had flu, which still meant that surviving birds had to be killed.
Before they could contain it, the flu spread to all three of the farm鈥檚 locations. That鈥檚 when Moline, his brother and father, their hired farmworkers and even their kids got busy disinfecting the barns and disposing the dead birds. Then, they waited for environmental tests to come back free of the flu virus.
On July 31, the Molines became the first infected operation to put baby turkeys back in the barns.
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 been that excited [to get baby turkeys] since I was a kid,鈥� Brad Moline said. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e getting back to, for lack of better words, back to normal.鈥�
Now Moline鈥檚 new normal includes fielding calls from other producers, some in the heart of southeastern chicken country where most of the country鈥檚 meat chickens are raised. Those farmers want to know what they should do to prepare. His advice to them?
鈥淟ook at biosecurity issues,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut also have a plan, whether it鈥檚 written in your office or on the side of a barn wall, have a plan of what you鈥檙e going to do in case this hits you. Because it can. It鈥檚 just that simple.鈥�
Fortunately, Moline added, as devastating as it is, the disease is relatively easy to get rid of. That was a critical factor in his decision, after consulting with his father and brother, to clean up and repopulate. But they know they could get hit again, so they鈥檙e ramping up their biosecurity, too.
Biosecurity refers to a collection of measures meant to limit the exposure of the animals to outside harm. It can include disinfecting boots and tires that enter or leave the farm and requiring overalls and disposable booties鈥攐r showers鈥攆or anyone entering a barn. During the crisis, workers even wore Tyvek protective suits with respirators.
Federal officials say the virus came from wild birds, . Some farmers even blame the wind.
That said, nobody really knows exactly how it happened. Before a Congressional panel in July, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack listed several areas where improvements were needed.
鈥淲e understand there are issues involving biosecurity, there are issues involving depopulation, there are issues involving disposal, there are issues involving indemnification, and the time for repopulation,鈥� Vilsack said.
Licking some wounds after criticisms of their response to the spring outbreak, USDA officials say they have a plan for this fall that could handle a of twice as many infections.
The department also hopes to stockpile , which won鈥檛 protect birds from infection, but will reduce the amount of virus generated during an outbreak. That could make clean up faster and help save birds. But there is still much anxiety about the cooling temperatures, as bird flu can鈥檛 survive the summer鈥檚 heat but could easily spread as the fall and winter chill sets in.
Meanwhile, throughout the poultry industry, people are trying to make sense of bird flu.
Cindy McCollough, who operates Blue Stem Organic Feed Mill in Webster City, Iowa, had a different experience than the larger feed mills and others affected by the state鈥檚 bird flu outbreak.
Unlike the large feed mills, McCollough鈥檚 customers typically drive to her place and then go back to their own farms, so there aren鈥檛 many trucks that visit a variety of poultry farms and the mill. That limited exposure during the outbreak. Still, McCollough watched carefully as the quarantine rings around infected sites came to within seven miles of the mill.
鈥淚f we were within six, we would have had to have gone through the quarantine aspects,鈥� she said, 鈥渕aking sure that every truck is sprayed.鈥�
She says biosecurity requirements would have forced her to limit access to the mill and she鈥檚 thankful it didn鈥檛 come to that. Across Iowa, 77 quarantines were established, with the last of those only lifted in late August. McCollough鈥檚 customers raise organic birds that can鈥檛 live exclusively indoors, as most commercial poultry does. She鈥檚 left with questions about the virus.
鈥淗ow it's spreading and why it was continuing to spread, because all of our birds are required to be outside,鈥� she said, 鈥渟o the migratory bird aspect was a big question mark for us because we would have had the highest exposure.鈥�
Avian influenza naturally occurs in wild ducks and geese, who often are unaffected by it. But that fact doesn鈥檛 explain how the virus got from them to the commercial flocks. Iowa State University wildlife ecologist Jim Adelman will soon be looking at sparrows and other small birds to see whether they can move the virus from migrating waterfowl to commercial poultry.
鈥淲e are going to go out and sample a bunch of these types of wild birds as well as some mammals and insects,鈥� he said, to 鈥渓ook at these sort of non-traditional vectors that might play a role.鈥�
Adelman emphasizes that these are unlikely transmission routes. But in the absence of one solid explanation, many ideas are being pursued.
