Congressman Steve King says he’s concerned by the push to get Iowa landfills to accept the dead birds from poultry operations that have been hit by avian flu. He says “My level of enthusiasm for going to landfills has been relatively low…I have long thought that we needed to maintain the birds on the location. That should be the ideal.” King says turkeys can be composted and chickens can be burned on the property — or the poultry barns can be super-heated after they’re “shrink wrapped” to destroy the virus, then the barns can be cleaned out.

“I think we need to put together more of an industrial approach to this and bring the technology to bear so that the next time there’s a disaster like this, we have developed a model in northwest Iowa,” King says, “to meet a disaster of this scope anywhere in the country.” King says since he’s a member of the ag committee in the U.S. House, he’s been kept up to date daily on the situation. He’s concerned that investigators haven’t yet determined exactly how the bird flu is being spread.

“There are four or five theories, any one of which could work and could be the real reason,” King says. “But we have to figure out as best we can how it got in, especially to the laying houses, and what carried it. And if we can’t figure that out, then we can’t raise the biosecurity to a level that we’ll have enough confidence to repopulate these buildings.”

King says he’s working with others to figure out some sort of federally-financed “risk management tool”– like federal crop insurance – for poultry producers, perhaps something like “business interruption” insurance. “But it’s not coming together with enough clarity that I can predict the shape of things to come,” he says.

Iowa is the number one egg producing state in the nation and this bird flu outbreak has hit hardest in King’s northwest Iowa district.

(Radio Iowa)

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The Montgomery County Fair Board will once again sponsor the open class Bucket/Bottle Calf show at the Montgomery County Fair. The open class Bucket/Bottle Calf show is open to all kindergarten through 3rd graders in Montgomery County. Any newborn or orphan calf, steer or heifer, daily or beef, that was calved between March 1st and May 15th may be shown.

Calf must be bucket or bottle fed. The Bucket/Bottle Calf show will be held on Sunday, July 19th at 2:00 pm with check-in from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. Bucket/Bottle Calf packets can be picked up at the Montgomery County Extension and Outreach Office at 400 Bridge Street.

Registration has been extended to Monday, June 1st. For questions, contact the extension office at 712-623-2592 or open class Bucket/Bottle Calf superintendent Mary Gohlinghorst at 712-623-9041.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Egg prices have surged higher as the death of millions of hens from bird flu is beginning to tighten supplies. The Midwest price of a dozen large eggs rose to $1.88. That’s 58 percent higher than they were a month ago when the bird flu first hit Iowa chicken farms. Prices have been climbing at a rate of about 5 percent a day for the past week as supplies become tighter.

Rick Brown, an egg industry analyst with commodity market firm Urner Barry, says it’s because 10 percent of chickens that lay eggs for food are dead or dying from bird flu. Eggs used principally as an ingredient in ice cream, mayonnaise and other products are up even more, about 162 percent to $1.65 a dozen since April 22.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa agriculture officials say bird flu has been found on another turkey farm in Buena Vista County, two more chicken farms in Sioux County and in a backyard flock of chickens. The four new cases announced Tuesday raise the state’s total to 60 and boosts the number of chickens dead or dying to about 26 million. The latest turkey farm has 24,000 birds raising turkey losses in Iowa to more than 960,000.

One chicken farm has 150,000 egg laying hens and the other 100,000 pullets, younger chickens that were to be egg layers. The backyard flock had 15 chickens. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed more than 39 million birds in 15 states with the H5N2 virus that scientists believe came to the Midwest this spring with migrating waterfowl.

Weather kept farmers out of the fields much of last week, but the latest crop report shows planting is still on schedule. The report shows 92-percent of the corn has been planted, which is six days ahead of last year and five days ahead of the five-year average. Northwest Iowa stayed ahead of the pace — with 98-percent of the corn planting there complete. Southwest Iowa lags behind the state average with just 75-percent of the corn crop in. Sixty-three-percent of the corn has emerged, which is one week ahead of last year and five days ahead of normal. Soybean planting crossed the halfway point at 51-percent complete — three-days days ahead of last year and two days ahead of the average.

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship said Monday afternoon they were responding to four probable cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Sac and Sioux counties. With the new announcements, Iowa now has 56 cases of the disease in the state. The Department has quarantined the premises and once the presence of the disease is confirmed, all birds on the property will be humanely euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.

Two of sites in Sac County are turkey farms that have experienced increased mortality. An estimate on the number of birds at the site is still pending. Initial testing showed it positive for H5 avian influenza. Additional confirmatory testing is pending from the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames.

The two sites in Sioux County have backyard duck flocks with a total of around 62 birds that was found during monitoring activities by the Department around a previous case. Initial testing showed it positive for H5 avian influenza. Additional confirmatory testing is pending from the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames.

As the Department receives final confirmations of the disease updated information will be posted to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s website at www.iowaagriculture.gov/avianinfluenza.asp.

Governor Terry Branstad says Iowa landfills should not take advantage of a bad situation and “gouge” poultry operations hit with bird flu with exorbitant landfill fees. “We do have millions of dead birds that need to be disposed of,” Branstad says. “And we want to dispose of them in an appropriate and correct way.” Branstad and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack talked about the issue by phone on Friday.

Bill Northey, the state’s ag secretary, and the head of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources have sent a letter to the state’s landfills, explaining the dead chickens and turkeys are being properly prepared for burial. Branstad is appealing to landfill operators to be “reasonable and fair” in determining the appropriate fees for accepting the birds. “We want them to be compensated fairly, but it’s not appropriate to gouge people when you have a disaster situation like this,” Branstad says.

Branstad has asked for a federal disaster declaration from the U.S.D.A., but Ag Secretary Vilsack says the loans that would be made available through that action actually have higher interest rates than would be available from other lenders. Branstad says he’s concerned about the job losses at the facilities which have been hit by bird flu as well as the steep decline in Iowa poultry production.

“This is a significant loss that we’re very concerned about and the impact on our economy could be something that at this point we don’t know how great, but we’re already beginning to see its impact,” Branstad says. The U-S-D-A does have an “indemnity” fund that will pay poultry producers for the “fair market value” of the birds that have to be killed. Federal payments will also cover the “reasonable costs” of sanitizing facilities where bird flu has been found.

(Radio Iowa)