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Indiana Records First Case of Avian Influenza Among Birds This Year

By Benjamin Thorp

A flock of turkeys in eastern Indiana has tested positive for H5N1 or bird flu.

The farm, in Jay County on the border of Ohio, is the first positive case in the state since February of 2024.

The flock, consisting of some 20,000 birds, has been culled according to officials, and the commercial turkey operation has been quarantined and portions of Jay and Adams counties are under surveillance.

This means no poultry would be allowed on site until the place is cleaned, disinfected and environmental testing is done to ensure there is no virus in the barns.

Farmers can partially recoup funds from the loss through a program with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Indiana State Board of Animal Health has described the current bird flu outbreak as the country’s “largest animal health emergency in history.”

Bird flu has been found in flocks across all 50 states since February of 2022.

But recently, concerns about the virus have been mounting. Last year, bird flu was found in dairy cattle for the first time. So far, over 900 cattle herds have been impacted across 16 states. So far, the virus has not been found in Indiana cattle, according to state officials.

California, which has seen a high number of infected herds, declared a state of emergency in December due to bird flu infections in its dairy cattle.

Scientists have raised concerns that unchecked spread among cows could potentially make the virus contagious  and deadly  in humans.

On Jan. 6, a Louisiana resident became the first person to die of bird flu in the U.S. The individual was reportedly older with underlying medical conditions and was exposed to the virus through contaminated wild birds in the his backyard.

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Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

Video: Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

I am going to show you how we save our farm money by making our own pig feed. It's the same process as making our cattle feed just with a slight adjustment to our grinder/ mixer that makes all the difference. We buy all the feed stuff required to make the total mix feed. Run each through the mixer and at the end of the process we have a product that can be consumed by our pigs.

I am the 2nd generation to live on this property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child my father hobby farmed pigs for a couple years and ran a vegetable garden. But we were not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. There were however many family dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. We all share this same passion to grow a quality/healthy product to share with our community. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.