Minnesota is the nation’s largest turkey producer, reports the Minnesota Star-Tribune, and has been the epicenter for the H5N2 outbreak that’s seriously crippling Hormel’s operation, which relies on birds in that state and Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker has declared a state of emergency.
Out of those 28 farms hit by the flu, 18 have been suppliers to Hormel’s Jenni-O turkey division. A Hormel-owned farm in Wisconsin with 126,700 turkey was added to the rolls of bird flu-infected farms last week.
All this boils down to reduced production by Hormel, the country’s second-largest turkey processor, the company says.
“We are experiencing significant challenges in our turkey supply chain due to the recent [highly pathogenic avian flu] outbreaks in Minnesota and Wisconsin,” Hormel CEO Jeffrey Ettinger said in a statement. “While Jennie-O Turkey Store has delivered strong financial performance so far in the first half [of Hormel’s fiscal year], tight meat supplies and operational challenges will pressure earnings in the back half of our fiscal year.”
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Hormel aren’t suffering alone: Yesterday morning, an Iowa egg-laying operation confirmed that the flu will kill off 5.3 million hens, in a first for that state’s egg industry.
While the virus can take down a barn filled with thousands of birds in short order, most are euthanized out of precaution to keep the disease from spreading.
Bird flu hits 5.3 million Iowa chickens; Hormel says turkey production down [Minnesota Star Tribune]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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