USDA Study Provides Insight Into Causes Of Avian Flu

Jul 31, 2015

An updated study on how avian influenza is infiltrating turkey farms suggests equipment and age are probably playing a role.

Earlier this month USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, followed up an early June report identifying certain factors that might lead to flocks getting infected.

APHIS studied 81 turkey farms across the Midwestern United States and concluded that the farms typically followed biosecurity protocols, but vehicles, people and buildings could transmit the disease.

Preventative procedures used included spraying vehicle tires with disinfectant at the farm entrance, requiring visitors and employees to wear coveralls, disposable boot covers and rodent control.

The updated report, issued July 15th, also found that adult turkeys may be more susceptible to the virus. According to APHIS, more than fifty percent of the infected birds were at least halfway through their typical lifecycle of 12 to 22 weeks. APHIS says extra vigilance may be needed while birds are in the mid to latter part of life stage before going to market.

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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.