South Dakota - 1 new outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial egg layers farm in Moody county

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Avian Influenza

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Cases in South Dakota as of 05/14/2015

Total Number of Premises	Total Number of Counties	Total Number of Birds Affected
9	9	1,650,900

COUNTY AFFECTED	TYPE OF POULTRY	DATE OF DETECTION
Beadle	Commercial Turkey	March 30, 2015
Kingsbury	Commercial Turkey	April 6, 2015
McCook	Commercial Turkey	April 8, 2015
McPherson	Commercial Turkey	April 9, 2015
Roberts	Commercial Turkey	April 12, 2015
Spink	Commercial Turkey	April 16, 2015
Yankton	Commercial Turkey	May 9, 2015
Hutchinson	Commercial Turkey	May 9, 2015
Moody	Commercial Egg Layers	May 13, 2015

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https://aib.sd.gov/avian_influenza.shtm

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Positive Avian Flu Test Reported At Dakota Layers

May 14, 2015, 11:26 AM

FLANDREAU, SD - ...

Dakota Layers says it was told by the state veterinarian Wednesday that one of its nine barns tested positive for avian influenza.

Officials are still waiting to determine whether it's the highly pathogenic H5N2 strain...
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Dakota Layers' marketing director Tracy Ramsdell says the operation is one of the largest in the state. About 70 percent of its eggs go to California.

The egg production facility houses more than 1 million hens at its farm. The company says more than 90,000 dozen eggs are typically produced each day.

http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/positive-avian-flu-test-reported-at-dakota-layers/?id=180004

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Despite biosecurity measures, bird flu affects South Dakota farm with 1.3M egg-laying chickens

By KEVIN BURBACH Associated Press MAY 14, 2015 ? 2:35PM

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. ? An eastern South Dakota farm with 1.3 million egg-laying chickens is the first in the chicken-production business in the state to be infected with a deadly flu virus despite efforts to prevent it, state and farm officials said Thursday.

Flandreau-based Dakota Layers, which accounts for nearly half of the state's almost 2.7 million egg-laying chickens, reached out to the state veterinarian Wednesday after it noticed an unusual number of dead birds in one of its nine barns.
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Dakota Layers' Chief Executive Officer Scott Ramsdell said in a statement Thursday that Dakota Layers had taken "extensive biosecurity measures" over the last two months to prevent an outbreak in their barns.

"Unfortunately, as many poultry farms are discovering, even our extraordinary measures proved ineffective in preventing the spread of avian influenza into one of our barns," Ramsdell said.
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http://www.startribune.com/bird-flu-found-on-south-dakota-egg-laying-chicken-farm/303767451/

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Bird Flu Strikes Dakota Layers, All Hens To Be Euthanized

May 14, 2015, 9:55 PM by Jared Ransom
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The company has worked hard to keep the flu from reaching their 1.3 million hens, but even their best efforts weren't enough.

"Our goal is to attack it fast. We have to remove every bird and euthanize them, and of course it has to be done in a humane manner, so we're preparing for that," Ramsdell said.

The birds will also be buried on site to prevent the spread of the virus.
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"We're not certain how long we'll be down, number one. Number two is before we repopulate, we'd like to know what went on? What happened? We certainly don't want it to happen again. So, I think it's an industry issue of 'Oh, what did cause this?'" Ramsdell said.

Ramsdell says they're conducting a number of investigations to get to the bottom of how their hens caught the virus. It could be six months, up to a year or longer before operations return to normal, putting the jobs of about 60 full-time employees in jeopardy.
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http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/bird-flu-strikes-dakota-layers-all-hens-to-be-euthanized/?id=180032