Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Nebraska agriculture officials on Friday confirmed the third case of avian flu in the state, again in Dixon County, and Nebraska Department of Agriculture director Greg Ibach told The World-Herald that it could take three months or more before producers there can begin rebuilding their flocks.
The most recent case involves 500,000 young hens. Those birds are within a mile of the first site where state and federal officials confirmed the first case on May 11.
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the state’s second case of avian flu on May 15.
All told, the collective number of Nebraska birds affected stands at 4 million.
As with previous cases, the affected birds will be destroyed while the Nebraska Agriculture Department continues to maintain a quarantine and inspects neighboring facilities within 6.2 miles of the affected facility.
Crews have been working to destroy about 100,000 chickens a day in Dixon County since the flu was confirmed there.
That rate has fluctuated as additional federal resources have been made available and as weather conditions have affected productivity.
All things considered, Ibach said, he feels “fairly fortunate” that Nebraska has not seen the widespread decimation of chickens and turkeys that has rocked Iowa’s poultry industry since the flu virus was first identified in December 2014. Just this week, eight new cases were either pending or confirmed in Iowa.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts on May 13 issued an emergency declaration to bolster the state’s resources being used to handle the current situation.
A Reuters investigation made public Friday alleged that farms in northwest Iowa were lax in enforcing biosecurity procedures that are part of USDA protocol.
More than 25 million birds have been affected by flu there, creating capacity problems related to disposing of animals killed by or because of the outbreak.
“We haven’t had the same challenges and struggles that other states have had,” Ibach said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can keep it contained to these three sites that were all related.”
As of about 4 p.m. Friday, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported 179 detections of avian flu had affected more than 40.7 million animals.
Courtesy of omaha.com
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
