August 2015 Articles

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Just Rambling August 2015

Just Rambling:
July 27th, 28th and 30th were the nights that the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza meetings were held in Farmerville, Ruston, and Many respectfully. If you are a poultry grower for one of the integrators in our state—Foster Farms in Farmerville, House of Raefford in Arcadia or Pilgrims Pride in Natchitoches and you didn’t attend one of these meetings then you missed a very important meeting about Avian Influenza. The current Avian Influenza out break started in December of 2014 with 21 states reporting positive cases in commercial premises, backyard flocks, and wild birds. There have been 232 positive premises with 211 being on commercial operations and 21 backyard flocks. Louisiana hasn’t had a positive case thus far but both state and USDA veterinarians are projecting a worse case scenario of 500 infected premises through out the nation or over twice what we have seen in the current outbreak. The Avian Influenza infection started from wild birds migrating from Asia to North America and then down the Pacific flyway in the west and the Mississippi flyway in central United States where Louisiana is located. These wild birds can have the disease but not show signs that they are sick. They are just carriers and can spread the disease in their feces. Birds are now in the North for breeding and nesting but will be migrating back South in the fall and will bring the virus back with them. The HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) is deadly to chickens and turkeys and 70-90% of a house can be dead in 4-5 days once they are infected. If HPAI is diagnosed, the USDA will quarantine the infected farm and initiate the response that includes euthanizing remaining birds, disposal, cleaning and disinfecting, surveillance testing, and repopulation. Farms may be out of production for 4-6 months which may cause serious financial hardships for farmers and companies. This could be devastating to the Louisiana poultry industry as well as the poultry industry throughout the nation. Thus far approximately 49.6 million commercial birds have been or will be depopulated which includes 7.5 million turkeys and 42.1 million chickens. This is 7.5% of U.S. turkey inventory, 10% of U.S. layer inventory, 6.3% of U.S. pullet inventory and .1% of U.S. broiler inventory. Breeder flocks have suffered the most losses with broilers infections being limited as evidenced by the .1% infection. The only prevention is to raise biosecurity so the disease doesn’t get into farms. There is no vaccine and there is not cure. Recommended practices are as follows:
Visitors do not enter poultry houses unless absolutely necessary
Keep a logbook with visitor’s name, company, time of entry and leaving, statement of no contact with other birds for 2 days, and phone number
Keep traffic at a minimum
Post No Entry signs at all entrances
Lock external entrances to poultry houses during non business hours
Keep other animals out of contact with poultry—pets, wildlife, and livestock
Keep back yard poultry off the premises
Bird-proof houses against wild or free-flying birds
Secure feed bins to prevent contamination by wild birds or rodents
Clean up spilled feed promptly to prevent attracting wild birds and rodents
Maintain good rodent control
Maintain good insect control
Do not allow employees to own, visit other farms, or be around other poultry
Clean and disinfect motor vehicles prior to entering premises
Clean and disinfect equipment and tools prior to use
Require clean coveralls (or disposable suits), disinfect boots (or provide boot covers), and require hairnet prior to entering houses
Change footbaths daily or more often if dirty
Water is drawn from secure source that can’t be accessed by wild birds or rodents
Report increased mortalities to State/Federal officials through the State Veterinarian at 225-925-3980 or the USDA toll free number at 1-866-536-7593
http://www.aphis.usha.gov/animal_health/birdbiosecurity/AI/

I would like to thank Dr. Mike Strain, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry and his personnel for facilitating and participating in these important meetings for the Louisiana poultry industry. I would also like to thank Ron Harrell with Louisiana Farm Bureau for providing the meals and helping to organize the meetings through the Louisiana Farm Bureau Poultry Committee. A big thank you goes out to Dr. Ken Angel with USDA for his presentation and to Farm Service Agency State Director, Mr. Craig McCain, and his personnel for their input into the meetings. A special thank you to Mr. Jason Holmes with the LSU AgCenter for the major role he played in booking the facilities for the Farmerville/Ruston meetings along with contacting the caterer for the meals, and all the work he had to do to help facilitate these meetings. Dr. Theresa Lavergne, with the LSU AgCenter, also helped coordinate the meetings with the integrators and we thank her for that. So many people involved that I can’t thank them all but the most important thing to remember for the grower was that these meetings were designed to help you and to help protect your farm from this devastating disease. Please follow the above recommendations and if you need further information don’t hesitate to contact the LSU AgCenter, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry or the USDA.