Poultry farmers locally and nationally on high alert as Avian Flu confirmed in Monaghan flock
AVIAN flu has been confirmed in samples taken from a turkey flock in Co Monaghan, which has since been destroyed.
Restriction zones were placed in the area around the poultry farm.
Poultry farmers across the country have been nervously watching developments as outbreaks of Avian Influenza have struck flocks across the world.
Poultry owners have been told to remain vigilant for any signs of disease in their flocks and report any disease suspicion to their nearest Department Regional Veterinary Office. Those signs include sudden death, swollen head, discolouration of neck and throat, loss of appetite and respiratory distress. In addition, members of the public are advised not to handle sick or dead wild birds and to keep their dog on a leash in areas with sick or dead wild birds.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine confirmed the outbreak of Avian Influenza H5N1 near Clones, adding that further testing would be carried out to determine the pathogenicity, with results due over the coming days.
Avian influenza restriction zones, where additional protection and surveillance measures are required, have been put in place and poultry keepers with flocks located within the restriction zones are legally obliged to comply with zone requirements. That means a protection zone of at least 3km radius from the infected holding and a surveillance zone of at least 10km radius.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has confirmed that although the H5N1 subtype can cause serious disease in poultry and other birds, the risk to humans is considered to be very low.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue has said that every step is being taken to mitigate risks posed by avian flu and he was confident that the outbreak would be contained and Christmas stocks would not be impacted. He said earlier this week that the poultry sector and his department were working together to ensure that every possible step was being taken to contain outbreaks.
“There’s always a risk, all we can do is take all the precautions. That does not mean it will go away but it will minimise risk.”
Minister McConalogue said that the outbreak is “very concerning” and would have a “real impact” for the commercial poultry farm involved, along with other farmers in the area. Two weeks ago, the minister put in place a housing order for all poultry flocks across the country due to an increased risk of spread of the disease from the wild bird population into commercial flocks.
“This is an example of what can happen and the reason why those measures are in place and the reason why everyone needs to be on top alert in the time ahead to prevent further cases.”
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) operates a financial compensation scheme for farmers impacted by an outbreak of bird flu. The minister said that the payment, which is “representative of the value of the birds”, is important to support impacted farmers to “get back into business again.”
When asked about how confident he is in containing the current outbreak in Co. Monaghan, the minister said: “There’s a risk all of the time in all parts of the country because of the fact that it is in the wild bird population and migrating birds in particular. “So there’s no guarantee that we won’t see a further outbreak, but by putting in place and taking every biosecurity precaution that we can it gives us the best chance of minimising and hopefully avoiding further incidences. “We did see a number of cases last winter across the country.
“We want to try and ensure that we absolutely in every way minimise and prevent cases from happening this year.
“But it is something that everyone, and in particular poultry farmers, will be very alert to in the weeks ahead.
“This is a really infectious strain of avian flu, but poultry farmers across the country are very aware of that and they are very alert to how high the stakes are.
“I think every step is being taken but it is important that it continues because this is going to be a daily challenge now in terms of ensuring that the risk of infection is minimised,” he said.
Minister McConalogue moved to reassure consumers that the supply of turkeys for Christmas would not be impacted by this current outbreak.
“This is very small in the context of the national supply so there’s no concern in that regard. With the precautions that are in place I’m very confident that we won’t have any issue around supply for Christmas.
“By farmers now taking every step that is being advised to them, I’m confident that we will minimise the impact of bird flu and ensure that the supply of turkeys, chicken and all poultry products will be minimised,” he said.
Infectious diseases consultant Eoghan De Barra added that there were very few known cases of transfer from bird to human and no human-to-human transfer to date. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture has advised strict adherence to the precautionary measures against bird flu and a spokesperson said that recent proactive measures had included enhanced biosecurity and confinement regulations under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013.
Those regulations require all flock keepers to implement enhanced biosecurity measures and confine all poultry and captive birds in their possession or under their control in a secure building to which wild birds, or other animals do not have access.
A departmental spokesperson stressed there is no evidence of a human health risk associated with consumption of poultry meat, poultry meat products or eggs.
• Anyone with concerns can contact the nearest Regional Veterinary Office or ring the Avian Influenza Helpline on 01 6072512 (or 01 4928026 outside office hours).
IFA PRESIDENT Tim Cullinan (pictured) said for the ninth month in succession, on-farm margins continue to slide as rising input prices overshadow any growth in aggregate output prices.
Data published by the CSO shows aggregate input prices in September rose 36.9% year-on-year, with aggregate output prices rising 29.2% over the corresponding period. “Relatively strong output prices have helped somewhat in mitigating against the input price rise, but, worryingly, aggregate prices in our most vulnerable sectors are under pressure and below what the market might be expected to deliver. Cattle prices are back 1.9% on August levels, and sheep back 2.7%. These are traditionally low-income sectors and need support. Many simply won’t have the capacity to continue operations at existing input-output prices,” he said.
“The Government has provided some targeted interventions in Budget 2023, which are to be acknowledged. But more will be needed in the months ahead to support farm families through this challenging period.
“It amplifies the need to ensure farmers in these vulnerable sectors get a 2023 agri-environment scheme payment. The two-week extension to the ACRES deadline isn’t sufficient to meet farmer demand.
“A further extension or simplification of the application process is needed to maximise farmer uptake. Greater flexibility is also required around the tranche-based design of ACRES to prevent thousands of farm families currently in GLAS/ REAP missing out on a key income support in 2023.”
Tim Cullinan said that the IFA has offered workable solutions to the Department on ways around this. They could either offer a bridging payment to farmers who are not successful in Tranche 1 of ACRES that matches their previous agri-environmental scheme payment, or alternatively, pay an upfront payment in 2023 for Tranche 2 ACRES participants, similar to the way REPS payments were in the past.
“It needs Government action and support, because there appears to be limited direct interventions against rising input cost crisis coming from the EU in the short-term,” he said. “The EU Commission issued a very underwhelming ‘Communication on
Fertiliser’ last week, which appears more interested in protecting the EU fertiliser industry than the farmer. “It offered nothing to alleviate current price pressures, even rejecting proposals to suspend anti-dumping tariffs on fertiliser imported from the USA and Trinidad and Tobago which IFA and colleagues in CopaCogeca have lobbied hard for.” He continued: “It puts farmers at a competitive disadvantage now because the US has removed antidumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on fertiliser to help assist its farmers in procuring fertiliser.
In effect, the EU strategy puts greater emphasis on individual member states to support primary agricultural producers for fertiliser purchases via the Temporary Crisis Framework, which was extended to end December 2023 and the state-aid threshold increased to €250,000 in recent weeks.