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Farmers Must Kill 4.2 Million Chickens After Bird Flu Hits Iowa Egg Farm

More than 4 million chickens in Iowa will have to be killed after a case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was detected at a large egg farm, the state announced Tuesday.

Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm in Sioux County, Iowa, making it the latest in a yearslong outbreak that now is affecting dairy cattle as well. Last week, the virus was confirmed at an egg farm west of Minneapolis, leading to the slaughter of nearly 1.4 million chickens.

Overall, 92.34 million birds have been killed since the outbreak began in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Although bird flu has become somewhat common among poultry, its spread to cattle has added to worries about the disease. In May, a second dairy farmworker was diagnosed with bird flu, and the virus was detected in both beef and milk. It has been confirmed on dairy cattle farms in nine states.

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Not always sunshine & lollipops working with cattle!

Video: Not always sunshine & lollipops working with cattle!

Doing vaccinations when life happens. It is not always rosy working with cattle or any livestock. Including people and dogs, ha aha. But in the end, it all came together, even after pushing the 5 cattle that got out due to me not having the head gate closed properly... twice! Finn worked pretty good bringing them up, Munch would not stay out as you could hear. He is a bit too young and wants to be with his people all the time.