🐔 Poultry Industry’s Response to Bird Flu As the U.S. dairy industry faces a bird flu outbreak, the egg industry offers a cautionary tale on managing the disease’s spread and the challenges of eradicating it.
📅 Current Outbreak and Historical Context The latest bird flu outbreak, beginning in February 2022, has led to the culling of nearly 100 million chickens and turkeys. Although hot spots still appear, biosecurity measures and collaboration between companies and agricultural officials have reduced their frequency.
🚜 Differences in Disease Management Dairy farmers can adopt some poultry industry safeguards, but differences between cows and chickens limit the applicability of these measures.
🦅 Wild Birds as Disease Vectors Bird flu is primarily spread by wild birds that can carry the virus without severe symptoms. The disease can also infect mammals, including sea lions and skunks.
🥚 Severity of Bird Flu in Poultry In chickens and turkeys, bird flu is typically fatal within days, necessitating immediate mass culling. This rapid fatality is not seen in cows, though infected cows can become more susceptible to other illnesses.
👩🔬 Impact on Dairy Cows While bird flu isn’t usually fatal to cows, it can lead to lingering symptoms and increased vulnerability to conditions like bacterial pneumonia and udder infections, according to Russ Daly, an extension veterinarian at South Dakota State University.
🧼 Biosecurity Measures in Egg Production Egg producers have ramped up hygiene protocols, requiring workers to shower and change clothes before and after entering barns. Trucks are regularly washed, and tires are sprayed with antiviral solutions. Many operations use lasers and fencing to deter wild birds.
🚫 Challenges of Maintaining Biosecurity Despite stringent measures, maintaining constant vigilance is challenging. Jada Thompson, an agriculture business professor at the University of Arkansas, notes the high cost of disease outbreaks necessitates these efforts, though they are hard to sustain.
🐥 Infection Rates in Broiler Chickens Broiler chickens, raised for meat, are less commonly infected due to their shorter lifespan of 6 to 8 weeks, reducing the window for infection.
🐄 Biosecurity in Dairies Dairies can limit disease spread by restricting barn access and using protective gear. However, the nature of dairy operations, with warm, humid environments and frequent liquid exposure, poses challenges, says Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Laboratory.
🧪 Disinfection and Pasteurization Disinfecting milking equipment between cows is impractical, but pasteurization effectively kills bacteria and viruses in milk, ensuring it is safe for consumption.
🔬 Research and Industry Response Poulsen suggests that the dairy industry could benefit from establishing research organizations, similar to those in the poultry and pork industries, to address and prevent issues like bird flu more efficiently.
🚛 Movement Restrictions Limiting the movement of lactating cows between states could help control disease spread.
💉 Vaccine Development The U.S. Department of Agriculture is testing a vaccine for calves to protect them and reduce worker illness risk. The egg industry is also exploring vaccines for poultry, aiming for methods that are quick, cost-effective, and easily administered, such as through water, feed, or pre-hatch treatments.
👩⚕️ Future Vaccine Strategies Developing vaccines is crucial, especially as bird flu spreads to dairy cows and humans. “Finding cost-effective and disease-resistant vaccination methods is a priority,” Thompson emphasizes.
