Bird flu battle leaves lasting impact on poultry industry

By: 
Nick Pedley

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Increased biosecurity standards play vital role in keeping virus at bay
 
     Last year’s devastating bird flu outbreak put local producers on the defensive against an enemy they had no idea how to stop.
     “It seemed like anything and everything people tried, it didn’t work,” said Joe Scallon, owner of two Franklin County egg facilities. “There was nothing magical that I was doing that others weren’t. I just figured it was a matter of time before it got to my buildings.”
     The highly-pathogenic virus killed more than 30 million chickens, turkeys and other fowl across Iowa in 2015. Though it never reached any of Franklin County’s six commercial poultry sites, bird flu left a lasting impact on local producers that forever changed internal protocol and industry standards.
     Biosecurity became the name of the game during the virus’ peak last spring. Experts suspected bird flu spread through wild animals, direct contact, fecal residue and possibly airborne dust particles, which made controlling it difficult. Producers spared no expense in cutting off all possible modes of transmission through stringent hygiene procedures and other means.
     Read the full article in the May 11 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.

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