WILLMAR ---- A combination of science and a few good hunches are being used to protect turkeys from another round of the avian influenza at Jennie-O turkey farms.
During a noontime talk Wednesday at the Willmar Rotary meeting, Jennie-O Turkey Store President Glenn Leitch said it's unknown if the highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza will return this fall.
"But," Leitch said, "we do know that we will be very well-prepared for it."
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This spring more than 9 million birds -- mostly turkeys -- either died from H5N2 or were euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.
Dozens of farms either operated by Willmar-based Jennie-O Turkey Store or contracted to grow for them were affected.
It's been a month since a new case was reported in Minnesota and barns are starting to be repopulated.
Scientists' best guess is that the disease may reappear this fall with the return of migratory waterfowl.
Leitch said the poultry industry, with the help of a broad range of government agencies and individuals, has learned much about the virus in the last three months and there is constant action behind the scenes.
"We've had experts from all over the country, and in fact all over the world, weigh in and try and support with information on how the virus moves and how best to prepare against it," he said.
"Many, many people have given up most of their lives the last few months trying to figure this out," Leitch said.
Along with the scientific testing and hard data compiled by the agencies, Leitch said Jennie-O Turkey Store did its own study that asked employees for their best opinions.
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"We're saying, 'give me your hunch. What are you seeing? What happened on this farm? When that one broke? What happened for the five or seven days before?' And we've come up with some very interesting information," Leitch said.
"We are working carefully but at the same time rapidly to think of ideas and things that we can do in the short term to help us," he said.
Besides stepped-up biosecurity routines for workers and vehicles, Jennie-O has also been wrapping the outside of their barns with fabric to "provide better support from outside elements getting into a turkey barn."
Typically in the summer, the heavy curtains on turkey barns are raised to allow air flow.
One theory is that the disease may have traveled on debris and dust carried into the barns by the wind.
Leitch said Jennie-O tried a variety of kinds of fabric, including landscape and fireplace fabric. It costs $3,000 to $5,000 to wrap a barn with fabric that lasts only several weeks, but Leitch said considerable debris has been caught on the fabric wrapped around the barns.
Whether that means the virus has been stopped or not is unknown.
"I can't say today that it made a difference, but we believe that it might," Leitch said.
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The company continues its own research with a variety of filters, including measuring the virus on the outside and inside of barns to determine "how much virus can we hold back" while still allowing fresh air to flow to the turkeys.
"It's extraordinarily complex, but we have some extraordinary people working on it," Leitch said.
In the next 30 to 60 days, reports are expected on epidemiological studies that could provide even more information about how the virus moves.
If the virus does return this fall, Leitch said many steps will have been taken by then to prepare a strong defense. There's no guarantee any of those steps will work, Leitch said. "But I can tell you that we haven't been sitting idle."
Leitch said avian influenza has existed around the world for years and it's "in our backyard" now.
"And so it's up to us to be able to manage it and deal with it and best prepare and then eventually eliminate it. That is our goal and nothing short of that," he said. "And I think the community should feel good that we've got some really good people working on it, and I'm confident we're going to be successful."
In response to common questions he is asked about the bird flu, Leitch said there is currently no "workable" vaccine for this type of avian influenza, but he assured the audience there will be an adequate supply of turkeys for Thanksgiving.
