The US Department of Agriculture announced in its Confirmations of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Commercial and Backyard Flocks Report that the presence of bird flu (avian influenza) was confirmed in a commercial flock of 47,300 turkeys in Jerauld County on Oct. 4, 2023.
In an interview with the True Dakotan Wednesday, October 11, Philip Stahl, Turkey Manager at Spring Valley Colony confirmed that the colony had depopulated the entire turkey farm located west of Wessington Springs in Jerauld County.
"It hit one barn of about 16,000 turkeys," Stahl explained. "Because the barns are listed under the same premises ID number and in such close proximity, we had to depopulate all three barns. Even though we didn't see any symptoms of the bird flu in the other two barns, we were afraid it would get into the other flocks."
Stahl said that symptoms he and other turkey farm employees observed included labored breathing, fatigue and sudden death.
Now that the turkey flock has been culled, the colony is moving onto disinfecting the entire facility which includes the three separate barns.
"After we disinfect, we have at least a six week waiting period," Stahl said. "The USDA will then come and swab the barns and send them to the labs for testing."
Despite following strict best practices when it comes to preventing avian flu in the colony's turkey flocks, unfortunately, Stahl knows this routine all too well as the colony was forced to euthanize its entire flock of 45,000 turkeys in Spring 2022.
The Jerauld County outbreak, along with an outbreak in Utah, are the first reported among commercial flocks in the U.S. since April.
After the post-decontamination waiting period, Stahl said that once they receive the green light from officials, the colony will begin placing birds, 15,000 to 16,000 head at a time.
