Bird Flu Questions

O.G.

8:02a, 5/6/24

Definitely don't want to get politcal but I don't believe a word the CDC says at the moment because of, you know....the thing.

But, how serious is this?

https://www.axios.com/2024/05/04/bird-flu-wildlife-mammals

Goodest Poster

8:24a, 5/6/24

High numbers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Maybe if you just go to sleep, all the numbers will drastically change between 2 and 5am.

Always the most goodest

Maximus Johnson

10:50a, 5/6/24

There was a terrible outbreak of bird flu during the big thing....

It was widely discussed in northern waterfowl hunting groups but didn't make the news nationally because of the bigger thing. I used to have a video of what must have been 5,000 snow geese all laying dead in a pond. I think it's a relatively frequent "outbreak" disease but am defiantly not an expert.

japantiger

10:52a, 5/6/24

If our government is reporting it, it's bull*****

Bradley.Kohr.II

10:54a, 5/6/24

The spread between dairy cattle seems weird.

I don't know that many dairy farmers, personally, but they tend to breed replacement animals more than buy them.

Not sure how much "herd to herd" movement there is.

AgLA06

1:27p, 5/6/24

In reply to japantiger

japantiger said:
If our government is reporting it, it's bull*****

Maybe.

It's a constant and often price shifting issue in the poultry industry. It's normally driven by wild (migrating) birds flying over poultry farms and crapping on them. New / expensive farms are going to fully covered to try and avoid this. People walking into the chicken facilities often have to go through a detox system similar to something you saw on the movie Outbreak to try and avoid spreading disease. A facility testing positive often requires it to be quarantined and destroyed. It's on the same level as Salmonella and Listeria in manufacturing facilities.

The last 6 months have suddenly seen new viruses not previously seen and to be honest, I'm not sure the industry knows what they are yet. But those viruses have put a huge hurt on the industry and the pricing seen in retailers and restaurants.

I'm surprised bird flew and similar don't get more exposure in conservation circles (ducks unlimited, ect.) because it has to be taking a toll on wild populations based on what it's doing to production facilities. This is first I've heard of mammals though.

(personal opinion) I have a feeling we're about to find out that what we believed to be the case with disease knowledge isn't correct. CWD, Listeria, Bird Flew, Anthrax and the like and the way the diseases / prions can live in the soil long and come back is scary as hell.

txags92

1:48p, 5/6/24

In reply to AgLA06

Issues like this are why I have such a hard time with how we are treating CWD. If a facility full of chickens catches an avian flu, they shut the whole thing in, and killing all of them is the typical outcome to try to keep it from spreading. Same for diseases in other livestock animals. But for some reason, people just find it unconscionable to tell people that if they have sick deer that can infect other deer that you aren't allowed to transport them to other places...and that if you have multiple in a single pen, that you might need to kill them all. It is considered common sense with nearly every other type of livestock, but for some reason, people go nuts when it is suggested for whitetails being handled and sold as livestock.

AgLA06

1:57p, 5/6/24

In reply to txags92

Deer breeding facilities, how they are inspected / approved, and the complete lack of oversight compared to all other types of breeding / livestock facilities is a joke. At best hypocritical and at worst can potentially lead to the downfall of meat production in general.

The same (essentially) disease in cattle is treated completely different than with deer. And that's what happens when a fish and game agency with little funding or understanding of diseases, cushy appointees by politicians to their board, and an ametuer policy compared to the FDA control (or completely lack thereof) private citizens breeding state resources.

Texas deer hunting is a dirty word around the nation. And rightfully so with how this has been handled.

txags92

2:48p, 5/6/24

In reply to AgLA06

AgLA06 said:
Deer breeding facilities, how they are inspected / approved, and the complete lack of oversight compared to all other types of breeding / livestock facilities is a joke. At best hypocritical and at worst can potentially lead to the downfall of meat production in general.

The same (essentially) disease in cattle is treated completely different than with deer. And that's what happens when a fish and game agency with little funding or understanding of diseases, cushy appointees by politicians to their board, and an ametuer policy compared to the FDA control (or completely lack thereof) private citizens breeding state resources.

Texas deer hunting is a dirty word around the nation. And rightfully so with how this has been handled.

The problem isn't with the agency, it is with how they have been interfered with by politicians with vested interests in keeping breeding wide open and as unregulated as possible. They would have shut it all down a long time ago if they weren't threatened with losing their funding for doing so.