Balmoral poultry classes axed over bird flu
BALMORAL Show organisers have axed this year’s poultry competitions as measures to halt the spread of bird flu ramp up.
It marks only the second time in the show’s 149-year history that any event has been cancelled because of disease — the first being the unprecedented decision to cancel the whole event because of the 2001 foot and mouth epidemic.
Rhonda Geary, Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS) op- erations director, explained that the organisation had made the decision based on advice from the Department of Agriculture.
However, she added that classes for pigeons, decorated eggs and shelled eggs would still go ahead.
The show normally includes classes for turkeys, geese, waterfowl,gameandbantamsandlast year drew in around 650 feathered entries.
This year’s show will run from May 10-13 and will mark the first time that Balmoral has been staged over four days.
Poultry breeders said they were disappointed by the news.
One from Armagh told the Belfast Telegraph he was particularly disappointed because this year’s Balmoral would have been his first.
Gareth Topping said he planned to take his Barred Plymouth Rock Bantams out to Balmoral having previously competed at the Armagh Show. His wife Hannah had hoped to bring her Indian Runner Ducks.
But Davy Kerr, a veteran of the poultry show world, said he had already decided not to take his birds out because of the risks. He said: “I would normally take between 10-15 chickens to Balmoral, but this year I had an idea that the situation wasn’t improving with bird flu so I decided it wasn’t worth the risk — they’re pets more than anything.”
Mr Kerr — who keeps 40 chickens, including Wyandotte hens, in Kircubbin — used to attend shows across the UK.
He added: “Balmoral would certainly be the highlight of the summer show calendar for breeders, but I think the biggest thing is that the hens will be sorely missed by a lot of the children and the families. They’re always popular, and a chicken can get up close and personal with children, while cattle can be daunting to some young people.”
As part of prevention measures farmers are forced to keep all flocks of hens indoors to stop the virus from spreading — but the EU has refused to grant any extension to the 12-week maximum that it will allow free range birds to be kept inside.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of eggs will be stripped of their free range status and will have to be relabelled if the restrictions aren’t ended in the next few weeks.
Biosecurity measures at the show also see cattle from the Republic housed away from Northern Ireland animals.
Ulster Farmers’ Union president Barclay Bell said the union supported the show’s decision. He said: “The priority for bird keepers will be the safety of their flock and it was better for this decision to be taken now rather than closer to the event.”
It’s not yet clear whether other shows will follow suit.