Turkey farmer Tye Rinner

As Iowa continues detections of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in parts of the state, poultry and turkey producers in southeast Iowa keep on with biosecurity measures to prevent the virus from infecting their own flocks.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have confirmed four cases of HPAI so far this March, as recently as March 17th. HPAI is a highly contagious, viral disease affecting bird populations and can travel in wild birds without them appearing sick, but is often fatal to domestic bird populations like chicken and turkeys. Rinner Family Farms located near Washington raises about 74,000 turkeys annually which are shipped to West Liberty Foods to be processed as deli meat. Owner Tye Rinner has been involved in turkey farming almost all his life, and is fortunate to not have experienced outbreaks of HPAI or other strains. He takes biosecurity measures seriously in order to protect his business, “Things I do myself in the door of every one of my pickup trucks is a can of disinfectant. So if I’ve been to town, getting parts from Orscheln’s or wherever you don’t know who all’s been there. I’ll disinfect my shoes before I get back in the pickup truck to help prevent the spread of it getting back home. I also have in every barn a dip pan of disinfectant. So we walk through that to disinfect our shoes one more time before we get into the building, and then once we’re in the building each one of my barns has its own set of boots and coveralls that we wear in that building and they stay with that barn.”

HPAI can spread through droppings or nasal discharge of an infected bird, which can contaminate dust and soil. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that the recent detections do not present an immediate public health concern, and no human cases have been detected in the U.S. It remains safe to eat poultry products, though the proper cooking of poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees fahrenheit kills bacteria and viruses. You can hear more about Rinner Family Farms during Wednesday’s edition of the KCII Special Edition Agriculture Magazine on air and by clicking on Listen Live at kciiradio.com.