Highly Pathogenic Strain Of Avian Flu Hits The United States

Apr 21, 2015

Two strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been identified in the U.S., with a number of cases being reported in the Pacific Northwest and the northern Midwest regions of the country.

While it’s important to note that there are no cases reported in the northeastern part of the country, an outbreak could have a severe impact on New Hampshire’s poultry industry, and UNH Cooperative Extension field specialists are encouraging flock owners to be on the lookout for signs of the disease.

In the meantime, following good biosecurity practices will prevent the spread of disease and result in better flock health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a fact sheet with some effective, common-sense recommendations.

Signs of avian influenza include respiratory symptoms (e.g. coughing, wheezing), loss of appetite, unexplained drops in egg production, swollen combs, red, runny eyes, and sudden death. Flock owners are urged to report any unusual or unexpected illness or death to the New Hampshire State Veterinarian’s office at (603) 271-2404.

Source:unh.edu

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.