The waiting-and-seeing stage is now over for poultry and egg producers across the Midwest. They began 2015 on high alert for bird flu, but now farms in many states including Iowa, Missouri and Kansas are dealing with an active outbreak. Nationwide, more than 100 locations have been infected. Harvest Public Media’s Amy Mayer has this look at the disaster response.
You’ll find this story – and other stories affecting the rural Midwest – by visiting the website wwwHarvestPublicMedia.org.
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Bird Flu Losses Likely to Top 20M with New Cases in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Agriculture officials say five more farms likely have been affected by the deadly H5N2 bird flu virus, including an egg-laying operation with 5.5 million chickens. Thursday's announcement means Midwest losses will top 20 million turkeys and chickens. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says more than 15 million of Iowa's 60 million egg-laying chickens are now affected with the news of it spreading to another farm in Buena Vista County. Thursday's numbers include two turkey farms in the same county with an unknown number of birds, an egg-laying farm in Sioux County with 84,000 chickens and an unknown number of chickens on a Clay County egg farm. Minnesota also reported three new presumed cases, adding another 35,000 turkeys to the state's total of almost 4 million birds killed or euthanized.