Bird flu: Otago Mainland Poultry boss on stressful time as 80,000 hens culled

The chief executive of the poultry farm at the centre of a highly pathogenic bird flu outbreak says his team is facing a “stressful” time as they work to eradicate all traces of the virus from the property.

It comes after a second poultry farm near Dunedin was placed under restriction after New Zealand’s first confirmed case of high pathogenic avian influenza H7N6, or bird flu, was found on a free-range chicken farm in North Otago.

The culling of 80,000 hens has entered its second day at the farm works to contain the spread of the virus from the Mainland Poultry-managed egg farm.

Mainland Poultry chief executive John McKay told RNZ they are disposing of everything that comes on and off the farm at a high-security landfill in Southland.

The number of chickens needing to be culled stands at 80,000. Photo / Ben Tomsett

This includes manure, eggs, PPE equipment and the culled hens.

“It’s a pretty stressful time for our team.”

McKay said he was pleased the depopulation process was happening quickly and there had been no noticeable spread to the other two sheds.

He said his farm and the other impacted farm will get more test results back today.

“We really feel for the other farmer impacted there, it’s a really uncertain and challenging time, we are offering any support we can give them.”

He described the process happening on his farm as being similar to the early stages of Covid tracing.

“We have really strong records, biosecurity is very important in the poultry industry.

“That maps what goes on to every farm and what goes off.”

He said even with the tightest biosecurity measures, “these things happen” when birds are outside.

McKay said the MPI testing had been “rigorous” and the link to the waterfowl was “very clear”.

Some 80,000 chickens on the Mainland Poultry farm will be destroyed by CO2 containerised gas, which farms regularly use to euthanise chickens and is an existing industry standard practice.

After an initial announcement on Monday that 40,000 birds were affected, Biosecurity New Zealand deputy director-general Stuart Anderson said in a statement on Tuesday that the virus had spread to a second shed on the Otago farm, bringing the total number to 80,000.

All poultry exports have been put on hold as Mainland Poultry tries to rid the farm of the virus before it spreads.

The firm said no staff had been given leave due to the outbreak.

Earlier, MPI director-general Ray Smith said that although it might seem like it, this is not yet the worst-case scenario.

“Even though we’ve been promoting this quite heavily, this is not the one [virus] that’s spread by migratory birds around the world, which hasn’t arrived in New Zealand yet.

“It’s a serious strain and it’s largely confined to the poultry industry.”

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