Ohio officials outline losses, testing and timelines as avian influenza hits West Central poultry farms

Chairman Randy Schafer convened the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee to hear testimony on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from Brian Baldridge, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), and Jim Chiquiris, executive vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association.

Director Brian Baldridge told the committee that Ohio has been responding to HPAI since 2022 and that the state identified its first commercial-flock detection on Christmas Eve 2024. "Prior to Christmas Eve in 2024, we have depopulated about 9,400,000 birds in Ohio since 2022," Baldridge said, adding that since the December detection the state has depopulated "over 15,000,000 birds during this outbreak." He said the cases are clustered in a handful of counties and that the department is working with USDA and industry on testing, depopulation, composting on-site and deep cleaning of facilities before repopulation.

Jim Chiquiris said the industry estimate was slightly higher: "we have currently lost over 15,500,000 egg laying hens, pullets, turkeys, and ducks at 74 premises," and that Darke and Mercer counties account for the majority of infected flocks. Chiquiris and Baldridge both described sustained collaboration with federal and academic partners and urged stable funding and staffing for Ohio's Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) and faster clarity on federal indemnity rates.

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