Avian flu crisis grows for poultry producers throughout USA

Aamer Madhani | USA TODAY

Poultry producers in several states are bracing for more losses as a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza forced producers to kill millions of chickens and turkeys in the USA in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that turkeys at four more commercial facilities--three in Minnesota and one in South Dakota--were confirmed to be infected with the fast moving H5N2 virus. The agency estimated that more than 390,000 turkeys between the plant would be lost to the disease or have to be euthanized as a precaution to prevent spread of the virus.

The latest cases come one day after USDA officials announced that H5N2 was found at a chicken laying facility in Osceola County, Iowa. Some 3.8 million layer hens at the farm affiliated with Sonstegard Foods Company will be euthanized to try to prevent the spread of the disease, according to the company.

The USDA had initially estimated that 5.3 million hens were affected. But the company has since confirmed that it was operating below capacity at the time avian flu was detected at its Iowa farm, said USDA spokeswoman Joelle Hayden.

"We went to great lengths to prevent our birds from contracting AI (avian influenza), but despite best efforts we now confirm many of our birds are testing positive for AI," the South Dakota-based Sonstegard Foods said in a statement.

Meanwhile, mega turkey producer Hormel Food Corp. confirmed that avian flu is causing significant supply chain problems in its Jennie-O Turkey Store segment as 17 turkey flocks owned or processed by the company have been hit by avian flu.

In addition to losing turkeys, those affected facilities are also quarantined, so they can undergo thorough cleanings.

Hormel CEO Jeffrey Ettinger warned investors on Monday that the avian flu problem will likely result in company falling on the lower-end of its projected earnings target of $2.50 to $2.60 per share.

"While Jennie-O Turkey Store has delivered strong financial performance so far in the first half, tight meat supplies and operational challenges will pressure earnings in the back half of our fiscal year," Ettinger said. He added that company believes it will maintain its earnings target "on the assumption that farm outbreak occurrences will decline as the weather improves, but expect turkey supply challenges to push our full year earnings toward the lower end of this range."

Until Monday's announcement that the Iowa facility was stricken, Minnesota—the nation's biggest turkey producer and home to Hormel—had been the hardest hit with the virus hitting more than two dozen turkey flocks.

Already, turkey growers in the state have lost more 2 million turkeys, since the H5N2 strain was first confirmed in early March in Pope County.

The toll includes both birds that were infected and seemingly healthy poultry that had to be euthanized under federal guidelines because they were part of flocks with an infected bird.

Since the beginning of the year, commercial as well as backyard poultry flocks in Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Oregon South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin have also confirmed cases of the H5N2 strain.

"We are worried and scared," said Kent Meschke, who owns a turkey farm in Little Falls, Minn., about 25 miles from where one farm has been hit by the avian flu. "You wouldn't wish this on anybody. When you've got an issue like this that's beyond your control, it's difficult."

The H5N2 avian influenza strain first turned up in Canada's British Columbia before entering the Pacific Northwest late last year. But the disease is having its most significant impact on commercial poultry farms and backyard flocks along the Mississippi River Flyway. Scientists and farmers say that the disease is being spread by migratory waterfowl.

H5N2 doesn't pose immediate health risks to the public or to food safety, but can wreak havoc on flocks. The disease is capable of killing an entire flock in 48 hours. Experts say poultry remains safe for consumers, and the Center for Disease Control considers the risk of avian influenza to humans to be very low.

Industry officials say that the disease should have minimal impact on consumers. Keith Williams a spokesman for the National Turkey Federation noted more than 240 million turkeys are produced annually in 25 states across the USA. Only about 1% of those turkeys have been affected.

Still, this current H5N2 crisis may be the most significant since an outbreak centered in Pennsylvania in 1983-84 left more than 17 million birds dead, costing taxpayers as well as the poultry industry $60 million, said Sherrill Davison, an associate professor of avian medicine and pathology at the University of Pennsylvania.

The strain carried by wild waterfowl has been spotted along the Pacific, Central and Mississippi River flyways. Experts say there's a threat that the disease will be carried eastward as migratory birds—such as wild ducks and geese—gather in northern breeding grounds over the summer and expose more birds to the disease.

"There is a concern now that it can get into the Atlantic Flyway and then effect East Coast producers that are on that flyway," Davison said.

Carol Cardona, an expert on avian influenza at the University of Minnesota, recently told Minnesota lawmakers that the disease is something that turkey growers will likely be grappling with for the next several years.

"This is not a disease we can live with and have a sustainable and globally competitive turkey industry," Cardona said.

Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, said that his group is still calculating just how big an economic impact the H5N2 crisis is having on the industry.

The farmers are partially compensated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the value of each healthy bird that has to be euthanized, but the turkey producers don't receive compensation for birds that die.

"These are business savvy people, and they tend to be multi-generational growers and they know they have good times and bad times," Olson said. "But this is a different deal than a down market. It's having a severe economic impact on those growers that have been impacted. But it's also having an emotional impact."

Meanwhile, turkey growers say they are stepping up efforts to keep their flocks from getting infected and prevent spreading the disease.

Workers are required to leave their street shoes outside before entering barns. They put on boots once inside the barn that never leave the facility.

Delivery trucks are getting hosed down before entering farms in an effort to keep contaminants out, and Minnesota turkey farmers are asked not to enter feed and supply stores to help prevent the unintentional spread.

Kim Halvorson, who owns a turkey farm in Morristown, Minn., said some turkey producers in Minnesota practicing "impeccable" biosecurity procedures to prevent diseases from infiltrating their flocks have nonetheless been stricken by H5N2.

Halvorson said she recently had a nightmare in which she opened the door of a barn to see all her turkeys dead.

"It felt so real that I woke up, got dressed and went down to check on them," Halvorson said.