Poultry Experts Head To Minnesota To Help With Avian Flu Response

As avian influenza continues to pummel Minnesota’s turkey industry, poultry experts from around the country – including a half dozen professionals from the leading poultry state, Georgia – are on the way to help.

While the highly pathogenic H5N2 kills nearly all the birds in a flock within 24 hours, the surviving birds must be euthanized and their bodies disposed of to prevent the disease from spreading. Usually that means spraying a suffocating foam into the poultry house and then composting the carcasses inside.

Minnesota producers have lost or culled 1.7 million turkeys exposed to the disease in just six weeks.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has sent employees from across the country to help deal with the response, and Georgia is sending experts from three agencies, as well as supplies and equipment, for 21 days, state veterinarian Robert Cobb told Southeast Farm Press.

“Minnesota has been very hard hit. .. They are having premises test positive daily,” said Cobb. “We are known as the No. 1 poultry state in the country. We don’t have a lot of turkeys, but this is a major concern. If this comes to Georgia, it could be extremely devastating as it has been in Minnesota.”

By giving rest to exhausted colleagues in Minnesota, poultry professionals from other states might help to keep the disease in check and benefit producers in their home states, as well, said Dan Duncan, livestock and poultry division manager for the Georgia Department of Agriculture.