The obligation to keep and shield poultry and other bird species has been extended again because of the bird flu. Agriculture Minister Piet Adema announced this last Wednesday. The extension comes as a big blow to the sector.
In the longer term, according to Bart-Jan Oplaat, chairman of the Dutch Union of Poultry Farmers, the confinement obligation can cause major financial problems for poultry farmers. “Certainly for the holders who sell free-range eggs,” explains Oplaat. “After 16 weeks of compulsory house keeping, the eggs of chickens that can normally roam freely may no longer be sold as free-range eggs.” As a result, the prices of those eggs also go down considerably. “That can save about 3000 euros on a weekly basis in the incomes of the holders.”
More expensive every week
Poultry farmer Siemons from Roosendaal confirms this. “By scaling back from free-range eggs to free-range eggs, the price drops by about 2 to 3 cents. Add that to all eggs and you do indeed come to a few thousand euros per week.” Siemons has been through that before, but then they were compensated to some extent by supermarkets. “Whether that happens again remains to be seen.”
For nearly fifteen years, customers could buy eggs at Siemons for almost the same price. “Now, with the rising energy price and high feed costs, I have to tell my customers every week, ‘When you come back next week, they’ll be more expensive again’.” According to Siemons, that will only get worse. “Hopefully this won’t be too much longer.”
Broilers culled
This year alone, 208,000 broilers have been culled in Brabant because of bird flu. In March of this year, 161,000 were cleared in Son and 47,000 in Willemstad in January. “A new wave of birds from Siberia is also coming this way,” explains Bart-Jan Oplaat. “We also don’t know at all what kind of a virus they can bring with them and whether our animals get sick from it.”
There are various options to be able to protect more poultry in the future, but the farmers run into problems here. “For example, we can use laser beams to protect the stables, only then you have to deal with permits and permit applications that take time.” A sound cannon can also be used. “Experiments were made on the Betuwe, but the birds got used to it. So that doesn’t help in the long term either.”
Vaccines
According to Bart-Jan Oplaat, there is currently only one important solution to the problem. “Vaccines.” Poultry is not yet protected against bird flu. “Trials are being done with vaccines, which would be the best option to keep bird flu out of the stables.” But because the vaccine development is still in a pilot phase, it could be a long time before the holders can use it.
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