How Hoosier Producers Survived the Avian Flu Outbreak
The Avian Flu outbreak is all but contained in SW Indiana, and the Board of Animal Health is getting ready to lift the quarantine area. HAT talked with one producer who lived through the experience. “It is like living on pins and needles,” said David Ring, a dairy producer who also raises turkeys in Dubois County. His farm was not infected with the highly Pathogenic flu virus, but he was within the watch zone. He had nothing but praise for the way the situation was handled, “All those involved worked very quickly to get the situation under control, and I think that kept it from spreading.”
There are a large number of turkey farms in DuBois County, and this outbreak did some serious damage to many producers in the county, “Those producers who were in the quarantine zone really suffered a great deal.” Ring said this was a reminder of just how important biosecurity is for poultry operations today.
Dubois County is home to a large Amish community. There was a lot of concern about the large number of backyard poultry flocks that exist in the county. But Ring said, for the most part, they turned out to be an issue, “They checked 1,900 sites and did not find any infection, so the backyard flocks may not have been as serious of an issue as we had thought.”
In addition to raising turkeys, Ring is also a well-known dairy producer. He was named the 2016 Outstanding Dairy Producer at the annual meeting of the Indiana Dairy Producers organization in Indianapolis. He is the fourth generation of his family to work the farm which was established in 1854.