Nearly three months after avian influenza was confirmed on Moline Farms near Manson, Iowa, the turkey farm is filling its barns with new birds. State and federal officials are scheduled to join the owner, Brad Moline, at a news conference today to mark the return to production. The farm is the first to re-stock among the 77 Iowa sites that were hit by the bird-flu epidemic. “The farm completed the cleaning and disinfection process and has negative environmental tests,” says the Iowa Agriculture Department.
Iowa, the No. 1 egg producer, was the state hit hardest by avian influenza, losing 34 million fowl, mostly turkeys and laying hens, out of the U.S. total of more than 49 million birds that died from the disease or were culled to prevent its spread. State agriculture officials said culling and disposal of dead birds was complete at all 77 sites and that cleaning and disinfection was completed at 16 farms. Four sites are eligible for re-population.
Moline told the Senate Agriculture Committee a month ago, “I am currently living the avian influenza nightmare” and that with luck, he and his family “will be able to salvage this year with one flock …. Regardless, two-thirds of our annual income has been wiped out” by bird flu. More than 56,000 turkeys were destroyed at the farm after the virus was confirmed on May 19. The USDA indemnity payments have helped many producers survive, Moline told the committee. “We will rely solely on our savings and these payments until our next flock goes to market around the Thanksgiving holiday.”
The USDA estimates retail egg prices will be an average 13-percent higher this year than in 2014 because avian influenza wiped out 10 percent of the hens that lay eggs for table consumption.
In a report to the World Organization for Animal Health, the USDA said it has closed the books on the bird-flu epidemic in 10 of 15 states, said AGCanada. The department’s chief veterinarian John Clifford said depopulation, cleaning and disinfection were completed and surveillance did not detect the virus.