2 more turkey farms infected with bird flu, putting South Dakota near top for total cases

A “highly pathogenic” strain of bird flu was confirmed Tuesday at two commercial turkey farms in Faulk and McPherson counties, federal officials say.

More than 114,000 birds are affected between the two operations, according to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a government agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The current strain of the virus, H5N1, is considered “highly pathogenic,” making it extremely infectious and often fatal to birds. The virus’ ability to rapidly spread often forces poultry producers to euthanize all birds considered affected by the disease.

Avian influenza is likely being spread by bird-flu-infected migratory waterfowl flying south from Canada and parts of the North American Arctic and over the Midwest as they make their way to warmer nesting grounds in South America, South Dakota State Veterinarian Beth Thompson told the Argus Leader.

The Tuesday bird flu confirmations come two weeks after highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected in Jerauld County on Oct. 4. This earlier outbreak marked the first reemergence of bird flu within a U.S. commercial poultry flock since April 19, when a Beadle County, South Dakota, and a Dickey County, North Dakota, turkey flock were both confirmed to be sites of the virus.

Based on APHIS data, 162,000 commercial turkeys in South Dakota have been affected by the virus in October.

The Mount Rushmore State is currently the second hardest-hit state in the nation for the number of birds affected by HPAI. Minnesota sits at 187,100 birds affected by the HPAI after APHIS confirmed the presence of the virus within a Meeker County 72,100-head commercial turkey flock on Friday and a 115,000-head commercial turkey flock on Oct. 11.

“It truly has been impacting the turkey flocks here in our two states,” Thompson said. “This really, truly is one of those diseases that, until it probably runs through the different iterations that it needs to run through, we’re going to be dealing with it for … more than a year, maybe longer.”

The current avian influenza outbreak has affected more than 4.2 million commercial and domestic birds in South Dakota since APHIS first started tracking U.S. H5N1 cases in Feb. 2022. 59.33 million birds have been impacted by the virus nationwide.

Dominik Dausch is the agriculture and environment reporter for the Argus Leader and editor of Farm Forum. Follow him on X and Facebook @DomDNP and send news tips to [email protected]