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Sunny to partly cloudy. High 77F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
Overcast. Low near 50F. Winds light and variable.
Tuolumne County’s largest poultry producer is dealing with an outbreak of a strain of avian flu that has caused the deaths of more than 40 million chickens, turkeys and wild birds throughout the United States since the beginning of the year.
Diestel Turkey Ranch in Sonora has suffered losses in recent weeks as a result of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, which has been detected in wild and domestic birds across 39 states and 13 other California counties after first being detected in a wild duck in January.
“We’ll endure and do the best we can, but it’s definitely disappointing for sure,” Heidi Diestel, a member of the family that owns the ranch, said in a phone interview Thursday.
The disease is typically spread from migratory birds, such as geese, and has a 90% to 100% mortality rate within domestic flocks, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Infections among pets or humans are rare, the USDA says.
Diestel said the first conversations about the current outbreak in the U.S. began coming out of the Midwest back in February, and cases in the West started appearing only in the past few weeks, including at her family’s farm.
“This has only occurred in the last two weeks for Diestel. It’s very recent,” she said. “It just comes on and kind of takes off, then it’s all hands on deck to manage and get it under control.”
While she said they are still determining exactly how many birds have been infected at Diestel, and what that will mean for their bottom line, it will likely mean they won’t have as many turkeys available on the market this holiday season.
Diestel said they always practice strong biosecurity processes, though they have been heightened in recent weeks to hopefully mitigate the damage and prevent the spread to other farms in the county.
“It’s really unfortunate, but it’s one of these things in poultry farming that you have to mitigate and manage,” she said. “Thankfully, the federal government and sort of the powers that be have a really robust program of protocols and are really supportive of helping farmers across America.”
Diestel emphasized that the disease does not affect food safety risk. She said they expect to get “back to business as usual” by next year.
The first outbreak of the avian flu in California was detected at a Fresno County poultry farm on Aug. 22 and resulted in the destruction of nearly 34,000 birds, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since that time, outbreaks have also been detected in Contra Costa, Sacramento and Tuolumne counties.
The first cases among a commercial flock in Tuolumne County were reported on Aug. 26, infecting 161,000 birds. Another on Aug. 30 was in a flock of 7,400, and another on Sept. 1 infected nearly 31,000 birds.
Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said there are currently 14 counties statewide with flu detections in wild birds: Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Mendocino, Napa, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus and Yolo.
Lyle said he couldn’t comment on specific commercial producers being impacted to ensure “both poultry owners and State and Federal responders.”
“The disease is spread by direct or indirect contact with infected wild birds, through movement of infected or exposed birds, or contact with virus on fomites (surfaces) such as hands, shoes, clothing, or feet and fur of rodents and other animals,” Lyle said when asked how the disease got into Tuolumne County. “Wild birds that carry the HPAI virus can spread it through several different ways including bird droppings (feces), sharing water sources, or through direct contact.”
To prevent the further spread of disease, Lyle said a quarantine is placed on an affected property that mandates enhanced biosecurity measures, including limits on visitation, clean or dedicated clothing, establishing perimeters, and cleaning and disinfecting poultry access points.
The measures also mandate that no birds and bird products move onto or off the location where the outbreak is occuring, Lyle said.
“The first sign of HPAI that most flock owners or managers notice is increasing sudden death,” he said. “If the virus has not already killed all the birds on the premises, state and federal veterinarians oversee euthanasia of the remaining birds as quickly as possible to stop further viral production and spread.”
The California Department of Food and Agriculture is urging all poultry owners to increase their biosecurity practices and provided the following recommendations for Tuolumne County flock owners;
• Wash your hands before and after handling your birds. This includes when handling birds from coop to coop.
• Prevent contact between domestic and wild birds by bringing your birds into an enclosure that is covered.
• If you have bodies of water on your property such as ponds or ditches, consider draining them to avoid attracting wild birds, and keep your domestic birds away from this potentially contaminated water.
• Use sanitized well or city water for your birds.
• Prevent rodents and predators from entering your coop.
• Prevent pets such as cats and dogs from eating dead wild birds.
• Keep feed covered and spills cleaned up to avoid attracting wild birds and rodents.
• Wash and disinfect boots and equipment when moving between coops.
• Do not share equipment or supplies with neighbors.
• Clean and disinfect equipment and other supplies between uses.
• Clean and disinfect your shoes and vehicle tires after visiting feedstores and other places frequented by other poultry owners or wild bird hunters.
• Avoid visiting places where wild birds congregate such as lakes and ponds.
• Report any unusual or suspicious numbers of sick or dead domestic birds immediately to the CDFA Sick Bird Hotline at (866) 922-2473.
• Report any unusual or suspicious dead wild birds to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Laboratories/Wildlife-Health/Monitoring/Mortality-Report.
Contact Alex MacLean at amaclean@uniondemocrat.com or (209) 588-4541.