Ag News
GDA lifts poultry activities suspension; control area released
Posted on Feb 13, 2025 at 14:09 PM
On Feb. 10, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper announced that the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) has lifted the suspension of poultry activities in Georgia and released the HPAI Control Area around the affected poultry farms in Elbert County following the successful completion of testing and response protocols with no additional detections. The two affected premises remain under quarantine until further notice.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture received notification of a “non-negative” HPAI test result from the Georgia Poultry Lab Network (GPLN) on Jan. 16. The following morning, the department was notified of an additional “non-negative” result by GPLN. Those results were further confirmed by USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory on Jan. 17 for the first HPAI detection and Jan. 21 for the second.
The GDA activated its emergency operations center within an hour of the initial notification, and GDA staff began deploying to the Elbert County area on Jan. 16. Depopulation, disposal, and cleaning & disinfecting operations at both locations began Jan. 17, and were conducted concurrently due to the close proximity of the operations. GDA Law Enforcement officers maintained a biosecurity perimeter around the affected premises to prevent unauthorized access and further spread of the disease.
In response to these detections, the GDA immediately suspended all poultry activities involving live birds including sales at auction, flea, or livestock markets, meet ups, swaps, and exhibitions. Following the release of the control area, the suspension has been lifted and poultry activities may resume as normal.
In response to these detections, the GDA established a control area – a 10km (6.2 mile) radius around the affected premises. There were approximately 103 additional commercial poultry operations located within the control area. Every commercial operation within the control area was subjected to increased testing and movement controls based on their proximity to the affected premises. In response to this event, GPLN staff completed 4,541 tests representing 49,951 individual chickens and hundreds of flocks with no additional detections of HPAI.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture implemented movement controls requiring a permit for any movement of birds or related products into, out of, or within the control area. Negative HPAI testing was one of several requirements to receive a permit. The Department issued 240 movement permits, representing approximately 600 movements during this event.
HPAI detections continue around the U.S.
Meanwhile, HPAI detections continue across states and species, and is considered a cause for rising egg prices.
In the past month, APHIS reported 30 cases of HPAI in California cattle. USDA announced Jan. 31 that testing of milk samples in Nevada show that six dairy cattle in that state are infected with a different variant of H5N1 avian flu from that which other dairy herds across the U.S. previously tested positive. Previously all the known cases of H5N1 in U.S. dairy herds were of the B3.13 genotype. The two herds in Nevada have tested positive for the D1.1 genotype, a variant found in wild birds across the U.S.
Since the first of the year, there have been 196 detections in poultry flocks, including broilers, layer hens, turkeys and other species, according to APHIS data. The two Elbert County broiler flocks are the only ones so far in Georgia.
A total of 26 flocks of layer hens in eight states have prompted the elimination of more than 22 million birds since Jan. 1, diminishing production by an estimated 131 million eggs, based on the United Egg Producers’ estimate that on average layer hens produce 300 eggs per year each.
The reduced supply has coincided with escalating prices, with some varieties of eggs topping $8 per dozen. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the national average price for a dozen Grade A Large eggs was $4.14 at the end of December. Some retail outlets are limiting how many eggs customers can buy, and Waffle House is adding a 50-cent surcharge for every egg sold at its more than 2,000 locations in 25 states.
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