The following report was prepared and written by Dean Dickel, retired organic egg farmer. Edited by Mid-West Farm Report.
A major figure in the Midwest organic egg business is calling on the USDA to approve an avian influenza vaccine. Egg prices are skyrocketing, and farmers face a shortage of replacement pullets to restock their barns.
“We’re gonna have to do something,” said Ernie Peterson, owner of Cashton Farm Supply in Cashton, Wisconsin.
Peterson has been part of the organic movement since its early days. He started as a feed supplier for Organic Valley’s egg brand. Later, he became a pullet supplier and now owns a production group and egg processing facility. While consumers have been hit with record prices for all varieties of eggs, the egg farmers Peterson works with are seeing soaring prices and shortages of replacement pullets due to a backlog of orders at hatcheries throughout the Midwest.
Peterson said the hatcheries he and his growers work with are sold out through 2027. “It’s just gotten ridiculous. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Most organic pullet growers buy day-old chicks from two major poultry genetics companies in Iowa: Hy-Line International and Hendrix Poultry. These companies offer genetic lines suited for cage-free and organic systems.
Even before the current Avian Influenza (AI) breakouts, hatcheries required producers to submit their orders at least one and a half years in advance. When AI hits a hatchery’s breeder flock (where male and female chickens are housed together to produce fertile eggs for hatching), the result is fewer day-old chicks being available to pullet producers.
Peterson said producers in the cage-free and organic market have seen chick prices double. Many farmers receive fewer birds than they ordered.
While a nationwide vaccination program would seem to be the quickest and most effective way to bring outbreaks under control, vaccines for bird flu are not currently available. “It’s technically illegal to vaccinate for bird flu in the U.S.,” said UW-Extension poultry specialist Ron Kaen.
Both conventional and organic poultry in the U.S. receive vaccinations for diseases like salmonella. An H5N1 vaccine was developed after a severe outbreak in 2015. The USDA has not approved its use under the Trump or Biden administrations.
The prohibition on the vaccine was initiated by the poultry lobby, specifically producers of broiler chickens. The claim was, and is, due to the fear that use of the vaccine would interfere with poultry exports to a number of Asian countries that won’t allow imports of poultry products from countries where vaccination is allowed.
Those Asian countries import import large amounts of U.S. chicken feet, or “paws.” Without these exports, processors would need to sell them as pet food or dispose of them. In other words, the H5N1 vaccine has become a political football in an international trade dispute. “We won’t take poultry products from other countries that vaccinate either,” Kaen said.
Peterson argues that the domestic egg industry exports little and needs a vaccination program. “We’ve gone past price as an issue. We don’t have supply,” he said.
The last big AI outbreak and spike in egg prices spurred renewed interest in home flocks. Many purchase baby chicks from local farm store, where feed and other supplies are also sold. Many people buy baby chicks from farm stores like Farm and Fleet, which hosts “chick days” each spring.
Early signs suggest bird flu is also affecting chick availability for hobbyists. Small hatcheries report higher prices, especially for female birds. Some popular layer varieties are sold out in advance.
Even if those able to source day-old or ready-to-lay pullets for home use, they are not out of the woods when it comes to the risk of infection from bird flu. Spring migration of waterfowl has been found to be one of the vectors for spread of AI. “It’s part of the equation,” Kaen said.
There is a debate about whether keeping poultry indoors can help prevent infection. Organic certifiers generally waive outdoor access requirements when and where outbreaks occur. But, the virus is known to be carried by dust particles that find their way into poultry buildings through the ventilation system.
“Generally, birds are less exposed when they’re inside, but it’s not a complete solution,” Kaen said.
Now that bird flu can infect humans, good biosecurity and monitoring of flocks are critical. Any illness or sudden death should be reported to the USDA for testing.
“Luckily it looks like it’s affecting the larger producers the most,” Peterson said. It’s unclear whether producers are benefiting from higher prices that would be passed down from the processors that buy their eggs. Most producers are locked into contracts that covers a single production period of 72-84 weeks.
It has been reported that some of nation’s largest egg producers are enjoying record high profits and stock prices due to government indemnity payments for condemned birds and the high prices for the eggs they sell, according to a report by published online by Sentient Media on January 28 of this year.
