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RADIO IOWA – A second outbreak of the bird flu has been confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in northwest Iowa’s Buena Vista County.
State Veterinarian Michael Kaisand says the birds were about 15 weeks old, and all 50,000 birds were destroyed. Doctor Kaisand says a six-mile quarantine area has been set up around the turkey farm.
He says they’ve identified five other commercial farms in the area and at least 37 backyard farms in the area as well. They are not releasing the name and location of the infected farm.
The disease was first discovered in a backyard flock of chickens and ducks in southwest Iowa’s Pottawattamie County last week. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig, says this is a serious situation — but the state and producers are much better prepared than they were prior to the devastating bird flu outbreak in 2015.
Naig says there’s a lot more awareness now and there has been a significant amount of work done by the industry to evaluate and improve biosecurity and improve the response. Naig says there are potential trade and market implications when the disease hits a commercial flock — but says it’s too soon to tell.
“I think it’s too soon to be concerned about food impact or pricing impact at this point, but you have to acknowledge that that can be an issue over time,” according to Naig.
Governor Kim Reynolds has issued a disaster proclamation for the county. This allows the state to pool resources to track, monitor, detect and contain the disease. It will also help with turkey disposal and cleanup.
