Bird Flu Case Found In Southern Wisconsin Chicken Flock

Mar 15, 2022

The bird flu has been confirmed in a commercial chicken operation in Wisconsin, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.

Samples from the flock were tested at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and confirmed at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, the agency said in a statement.

State animal health officials have quarantined the property in southern Wisconsin's Jefferson County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Milwaukee. All chickens in the flock will be destroyed and will not enter the food system, the USDA said.

Farms that raise turkeys and chickens for consumption have been on high alert and taking steps to increase biosecurity since avian influenza was recently discovered in a handful of states, including Indiana and Iowa. Producers fear a repeat of a widespread bird flu outbreak in 2015 that killed 50 million birds across 15 states and cost the federal government nearly $1 billion.

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.