A lockdown requirement, a transport ban for some Brabant companies and visitors are no longer allowed to visit the company. Poultry farmers in Brabant are becoming increasingly concerned now that bird flu is spreading more and more. “We have had a handful of outbreaks in recent years, but now there are a lot of them in one month,” says poultry farmer Jan Verhoijsen from Someren.
The Verhoijsen family has several locations for the poultry business. And so the chance of contamination is also somewhat greater, Jan thinks. But you can’t do much about it. Certainly not if it concerns contamination by a wild bird. “It is difficult for me to put a sign on the field: do not fly over here. Migratory wild birds like to touch the ground with their feet.” There are a lot of geese in Jan’s field. “There are really a lot of them and I regularly chase them away.”
By keeping the chickens indoors and not allowing visitors, Brabant poultry farmers hope to avoid the problem. But the system is not waterproof. “An infected bird can defecate on your land or it can fall from the sky. Then it can be dragged into the stable.”
“The spots are spreading more and more.”
Jan Verhoijsen has experienced many outbreaks of bird flu, such as the major outbreak in 2003, in which millions of chickens had to be culled. The Brabant poultry farmers do not want to experience that again. “There are now outbreaks in Limburg, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and in Belgium just across the border,” says Jan. “The spots are spreading more and more. The room to move is becoming less and less. If it continues like this, you will have an unworkable situation.”
Several Brabant companies that are located within a radius of 10 kilometers from the infected Belgian companies are now completely locked down. Chickens and eggs are no longer allowed to be transported. “But it is better organized now,” says Verhoijsen. “With 6 to 7 weeks, your stables become overcrowded and animal welfare and the well-being of the poultry farmer are compromised. Now companies can use a corridor that immediately takes the animals to the slaughterhouse.”
“The vaccine is just there.”
Jan also hopes that hobby animal keepers will adhere to the cage requirement. And he hopes that it will one day be possible to vaccinate poultry against the disease. “The vaccine is simply available and there are trials in the Netherlands.” But the eggs must then remain in the Netherlands, for example.
It is stuck in the international agreements,” says Verhoijsen. “Other countries do not want eggs from chickens that have been vaccinated, for example. Sometimes it is even used as a trade barrier. I hope that we can make agreements at European and global level so that we can vaccinate.”
