About 30 million hens were lost, 40 per cent of the state’s
flock.
Wisconsin lifted its final six quarantine zones this week,
so those farms in Barron and Jefferson counties are set to repopulate.
Minnesota had more than 100 farms hit this past spring.
Nearly 40 of them have been repopulated and 37 more have achieved regulatory
standards they need in order to follow suit. Minnesota lost about five million
turkeys and four million egg-laying hens.
It is probably not over yet. Animal health experts believe high-pathogenic
strains of avian influenza may return as early as this fall as wild bird
migrations resume.
Canadians remain vigilant after losing flocks in the Fraser
Valley of British Columbia around Christmas time and three flocks in Oxford County,
Ont., this spring.
