Starting Wednesday, May 8, a state emergency order will go into effect in Michigan to limit the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.
While it’s not impacting people yet, HPAI’s impact on the state’s economy and its operations for supplying eggs and meat has taken a hit. Left unchecked, the director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development warns that issues could only intensify.
“Michigan’s been in the unique position of dealing with a pretty significant HPAI outbreak both in several fair herds here in the state, but several poultry operations as well – some commercial egg laying facilities, some turkey farms,” said Director Tim Boring.
Normally, mid-spring issues that farmers manage are related to the weather—too much rain or cold nights freezing crops. But this year, it’s the bird flu.
“Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been around the country for a couple of years now, but what makes this latest outbreak significant is that it is now very prevalent in dairy cattle across the country,” Boring said.
In Michigan, farmers are struggling as their operations are limited, and animals suffer after getting infected with the latest strain of HPAI.
To quell the spread, state officials will execute an emergency order and deploy biosecurity measures while tracking people on the site of vulnerable farms.
“We continue to know that this virus is spread through people and vehicle movement, so we’ve called on poultry and dairy facilities across the state to implement some essential bio-security practices for the cleaning and disinfecting, tracking who is on facilities, identification of a biosecurity manager,” said Boring.
It will also impact what fair season looks like this summer in Michigan, Boring said.
“We’re looking to halt poultry exhibitions until we have had a negative test in the state for 30 days. And we’re placing restrictions on bringing lactating dairy cattle to the fair,” he added. Notably, the director said, its not a public health problem – yet.
