By Corey Everitt
It’s a tense time for poultry farmers as authorities try to contain an outbreak of bird flu in Western Victoria leaving local farmers feeling vulnerable while managing surging demand.
Last month, Agriculture Victoria (AV) announced the detection of the high pathogenicity H7N3 strain of avian influenza at a property near Meredith.
Quarantine controls are in place through the infected properties that as of 6 June stands at four properties in the areas of Golden Plains Shire and the township of Terang.
The shock on supply has seen some supermarkets, including Coles Lakeside, limit the purchase of poultry items such as restricting to a maximum of two egg cartons per customer.
For Catani egg farmer Jeremy Van Boxtel of The Homegrown Farm, the supply impact has hit hard.
“The biggest thing we are seeing is demand, the demand is astronomical, we are turning people away everyday, it’s getting frustrating,” he said.
“And it’s at the time when most hens go off the lay, May-June is always difficult as days become shorter.”
Though on the other side of the State, the risks are there for anyone and especially for pasture-raised chickens like Jeremy’s.
“There is not a huge amount we can do, other than restrict access to the farm, make sure the contractors that have to come on the farm do all the biosecurity checks,” he said.
“Because we are a paddock and free range we don’t have the ability to lock up our hens to stop anything from being brought over.
“Commercial free range farms would have all their doors shut, the risk is just too high to have them out.
“If a wild bird were to become infected and come around, we would be at risk.”
The Homegrown Farm is smaller scale with a couple of thousand, the consequences of a detection even for a large-scale commercial farm would be devastating, but Jeremy stays positive.
“If it were to come through, it’s a disease you must report and they would cull all of them and that would be the end of us,” he said.
“But it’s not the first time we have gone through this, early covid there was a bout that went through East Gippsland and it didn’t really get out of control.”
AV is still currently investigating the outbreak and conducting quarantine measures.
Victoria’s Chief Veterinary Officer Graeme Cooke said for farmers to maintain biosecurity measures and reduce contact where possible.
“All bird owners across Victoria are reminded to follow best biosecurity practice such as keeping poultry sheds, yards, aviaries and equipment clean, and restricting contact between your poultry and wild birds”, said Dr Cooke.
