As we are now in winter, we know that prolonged exposure to colder temps will not be far away. Mother Nature has already given us a taste or two here in December. As much as we don’t always like the brisk cold, it is going to be a necessity to stop the latest round of the Bird Flu, otherwise known as HPAI or H5N1 since it crossed the species barrier.
Last month we talked with Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig about the possibility of some late-season cases because of the warmer temps we had in the fall. We just weren’t seeing migrating birds following their normal patterns. Geese had been starting to show up, but not leaving as our temps were comfortable for them. We saw neighboring states start to have cases in November and knew that it was just a matter of time before we did as well.
Naig talks about the situation we find ourselves in as we approach Christmas on Wednesday. It is a much later outbreak than what we are used to.
Naig says that Mother Nature is beginning to cooperate with our need for this threat to be neutralized for another year, and we are starting to see the birds continue their journey south, and H5N1 is showing up further to our south. However, we do have some good news in this particular outbreak. We aren’t seeing farm-to-farm or flock-to-flock transmission of the virus. It seems to be just in isolated pockets where migratory birds have been in the vicinity of these farms.
Naig encourages all producers to keep an eye out for any kinds of symptoms in their animals and report to your herd or flock veterinarian as soon as you suspect something is amiss. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will continue to notify the public as soon as cases are confirmed.
