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State presenters tell senators avian influenza is persistent, will delay flock restocking and affect egg supplies
Summary
State agriculture presenters briefed a South Carolina Senate committee on ongoing high‑path avian influenza outbreaks, describing long repopulation timelines for commercial egg operations, biosecurity steps for backyard flocks, and a dairy testing program that has so far returned negative results for participating farms.
A presenter for state agriculture officials told a South Carolina Senate committee that recent high‑path avian influenza outbreaks have required depopulation of infected flocks and will create months-to-years delays before affected egg-laying operations can resume full production.
The presenter said repopulation of egg‑layer facilities can be lengthy: "90 days," he said when asked about the minimum lag to begin reducing retail prices, and later explained that some facilities may take up to three years to fully restock. The presenter noted the scale of commercial operations — "1 to 6,000,000 birds" in some complexes — as a factor that lengthens downtime for cleaning, disinfection and restocking.
The committee was told the virus has become geographically widespread and persistent. The presenter said the current…
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