Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has declared an “extraordinary animal health emergency” and imposed “the most comprehensive measures in the country” to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza.“Producers must immediately implement robust biosecurity practices and create emergency preparedness plans and this order starts to address these on-farm risks,” Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Tim Boring said statement last week.
“Implementing these measures must be the highest priority for every farm and agriculture worker,” he said. “Working together, we can combat HPAI and reduce the long-term impacts on our dynamic food and agriculture industry.”
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The “Determination of Extraordinary Emergency, HPAI Risk Reduction Response Order” signed by Boring on Wednesday imposes a series of biosecurity practices on all Michigan dairy farms and commercial poultry operations.
Those measures include a biosecurity manager for every farm, a secure perimeter around poultry, cleaning and disinfection for people and vehicles, a log of all people and vehicles that enter farms, isolation of lactating cows until 30 days after the last HPAI case, and isolation of poultry “until such a time there are no new cases of HPAI in domestic poultry in the State of Michigan for at least 30 consecutive days.”