(Bloomberg) — Most of the 3.8 million egg-laying hens in an Iowa flock probably have bird flu as the biggest single outbreak of the virus reported in the U.S. added to concerns that turkey and egg supplies will be hampered by the disease.
"Despite best efforts, we now confirm many of our birds are testing positive" for avian influenza, closely held Sonstegard Foods Co. said in a statement dated April 20. The company said its Sunrise Farms unit close to Harris, Iowa, in Osceola County has 3.8 million hens. Commercial turkey flocks with more than 2 million birds in eight states have been reported with the virus by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA on Monday "confirmed the presence of highest pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza" in three "flocks" in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, including 5.3 million chickens in Osceola County. That number reflects the capacity estimate of the Iowa site, Joelle Hayden, a spokeswoman at the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in a telephone interview. The agency's doesn't disclose owners of the birds.
"A lot of poultry meat and eggs won't make it to market," John Glisson, a vice president of research at the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, said during a panel discussion Tuesday at a National Chicken Council conference in Cambridge, Maryland. The U.S. and Canada are "implementing plans that have been set up for years" to fight disease, he said.
Turmoil in the poultry industry escalated as Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, Iowa's northern neighbor, authorized the state's National Guard to help agriculture authorities respond to the flu in three counties. Hormel Foods Corp., the owner of Jennie-O turkeys, said Monday that annual profit may be eroded because the virus is hampering production.
Hormel shares
Shares of Hormel, based in Austin, Minneapolis, fell 3.2 percent to $54.59 at 12:22 p.m. in New York. A close at that price would mark the biggest drop since Nov. 25. Through Monday, the stock climbed 8.2 percent this year.
Iowa's agriculture agency said in an e-mail on Monday that the premises detected with the virus have been quarantined. Birds on the property will be "depopulated" to stop the flu's spread, according to the USDA. Sonstegard is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
"The Center for Disease Control and Iowa Department of Public Health considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low," Iowa's agriculture agency said in a statement.
Before Monday, avian flu was found primarily in commercial turkey flocks, particularly in Minnesota, the largest U.S. producer.
The virus was first confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in the central U.S. last month after an outbreak began in wild birds and backyard flocks in the western U.S. in late 2014.
Waterfowl migration
The disease has been found in some states that fall along a Mississippi River migratory route for waterfowl. China has halted all U.S. poultry imports since January, and other nations have imposed bans. Birds in flocks detected with the virus don't enter the food system, according to the USDA.
"We must act quickly and efficiently to contain the outbreak and protect domestic poultry," Wisconsin's Walker said in a statement on his website. The state veterinarian requested as many as 14 guard personnel on a rotating schedule for immediate assistance.
The USDA has forecast that national egg production will rise 0.9 percent this year to 8.41 billion dozen, and prices will average $1.30 to $1.36 a dozen, down from $1.423 last year.
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