559 California dairies impacted – over 7 million hens lost
- Central Valley is epicenter for the contagious virus
- A call for coordination between poultry and dairy industries
- USDA announces milk supply testing
- State egg industry hardest hit
- Fresno raw milk dairy operator may advise Trump administration
New cases of bird flu are being discovered and posted daily by USDA and CDFA for both the dairy and poultry industry in California. Bird flu is also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).The virus is spread by infected wild birds which can carry the virus without themselves getting sick.
The two farm animal businesses are some of the state’s
most important ag industries, clustered in the Central Valley, sometime just down the road from each other.The names of the affected facilities are not made public. But when more than half of the state’s dairies are quarantined due to the virus and some 7 million chickens in the state had to be destroyed including over 5 million egg layers – almost 50% of the egg laying flock in the Golden State – Californians might want to pay attention.
The 7 million chickens number comes from about 40 affected commercial flocks and 24 backyard flocks.
Testing Ordered
Late last week the US Department of Agriculture on Friday ordered testing of the nation’s milk supply for H5N1 starting December 16 in a number of states including California.
USDA announced this just as raw milk from a Fresno dairy was being pulled off the market because it was found containing the virus. Now in a twist, the operator, Mark McAfee, a proponent of drinking unpasteurized raw milk will be asked to join the Trump administration as an advisor to RFK Junior, whose office will oversee food safety issues. Mr. McAfee denies that his dairy has been infected by bird flu.
Meanwhile, the poultry industry is reeling from the financial impact of so many ranches being devastated in the state. Bill Mattos, who heads up the California Poultry Federation, calls the situation “really scary.”
No state has had more commercial poultry flocks affected by HPAI in 2024 than California, and the acceleration in new cases shows no signs of easing.
The latest count (Dec 6) brings the number of commercial flocks in California to be affected by HPAI this year to 26. Of those, four were in Stanislaus County (home to very large egg operations) and two were in Sacramento County.
The H5N1 virus that has been prevalent in these California poultry flocks has also been spreading in commercial dairy cattle in the state as well. According to APHIS, 269 cases of H5N1 have been confirmed in California dairies just in the past 30 days
The Valley’s poultry industry has been on a similar viral infection timeline to local dairy farms coinciding with the annual wild bird migration, the original source for the disease.
But now there is concern the stair step rise in infections at both confined animal facilities may be linked, with one affecting the other? Research shows that the virus can travel on dust particles carried by wind, says the industry publication EggNews.
Call for coordination
Mattos is calling for coordination between the poultry and dairy industries in California as they each struggle to survive. USDA has indicated they will meet with leaders in both industries soon, he says.
Unlike the dairy industry now suffering modest production losses and a limited number of cow deaths, poultry infections require the destruction of the entire flock leading to a devastating financial impact on the operator.
Already one of the state’s largest egg producers based in Wasco in Kern County – Central Valley Eggs – has filed a state WARN notice this past week announcing the permanent layoff of 56 employees. While there is no word on whether this was bird flu-related, two large unnamed Kern County egg ranches had to destroy a total of over 3.2 million birds a few weeks ago according to USDA.
Large egg ranches in Merced and Stanislaus County were just reported as well.The Merced ranch lost 1.7 million birds.but the number at Stanislaus egg ranch has yet to be released.
There is concern that other poultry operators will not be able to handle the impacts. The spread of the virus is costing farmers significant financial losses but may create more opportunities for the strain to mutate into something that could spread from person to person, says one study.
Poultry Federation president Mattos says eggs from California will be in short supply incoming months. Ranches wiped out by the virus will probably not be back in production for at least four months. USDA says the price of eggs in California has gone up about a dollar in the past week to over six dollars a dozen.
The farm gate value of California egg production is estimated at $537,600,000. In 2020, nearly 14 million laying hens produced four billion eggs in California. In early 2024 that number was down to 11.4 million before the current losses that are expected to reach half of that.
EggNews reports this past week that nationwide-year-to-date losses have attained approximately 24 million hens with the fall wave in progress. There is currently a deficit of approximately 12 million hens compared to the 2022 flock of 326 million at the onset of HPAI.
Besides egg ranches losses, the spread of the virus in the poultry industry also hit Central Valley farms raising turkeys, ducks and meat chickens called broilers.
12 cases of bird flu in Kings & Tulare poultry ranches
Since September 1, when the virus was first found in California, Tulare County has seen six poultry operations hit; Fresno has nine; Kings County has six; Merced has six and Stanislaus County has three – all put out of business for at least months.
UPDATE : ANOTHER TULARE RANCH HIT DEC 11
Some in the poultry industry are calling for USDA to provide a vaccine to ward off the virus. Already California condors have been inoculated with such a vaccine.
There is concern that any new vaccine program would have to pass muster with RFK Junior slated to preside over the federal agency in charge, the Department of Health and Human Services.
The USDA has also approved field trials to test vaccines that could prevent dairy cows from getting the H5N1 strain of bird flu.
UPDATE: SEC AG AG VILSACK CONFIRMS DAIRY VACCINE TESTING UNDERWAY
The latest news in the dairy sector is that as of December 6 CDFA confirms H5N1 bird flu in two more California dairies with a total of 506 ranches infected so far but released 20 fully recovered dairies from quarantine.
UPDATE: DEC 12: 559 CALIFORNIA DAIRIES HIT AND 32 RECOVERED