Year in Review: Avian Influenza Virus Threatens Georgia’s Poultry Industry

One of the big issues that affected poultry farmers across the Northeast Georgia region in 2015 was the threat of the avian influenza virus.

The Avian Influenza virus is carried by wild waterfowl and was brought to North America by Asian waterfall that crossed into Canada.

Georgia is country’s largest poultry producer and is Georgia’s largest agribusiness totally some $6-billion dollars a year.

Last spring, federal and state health officials warned poultry farmers to take extra precautions to prevent the influx of the deadly virus after it wiped out over 8 million birds at poultry farms in the upper Midwest.

But by June, State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Cobb had confirmed three shipments of live poultry ordered from an infected poultry farm in Iowa, were sent to small farms in Fitzgerald and Meriwether Counties.

All of the birds were euthanized.

With the threat of Avian influenza on Georgia’s doorstep, one local businessman announced he had developed a system to disinfect all trucks and vehicles coming onto a poultry farm.

Jeff Schwan is the owner of Farm Guard Systems, LLC.

Schwan developed a disinfecting drive-through spray system that he says will kill the avian influenza virus on all vehicles entering a poultry farm.

Schwan said as the truck passes through it is sprayed with a mixture of Virocid disinfectant and water, both over and under the vehicle.

“The uprights are 14-ft wide and are 17-ft high and the sprayer nozzles go all the way to the top to cover the entire surface of the vehicle,” he said. “There are also six nozzles under the vehicle to cover the under carriage. There are 18 nozzles total.”
According to Schwan each spray uses about a gallon per minute per nozzle at about 60 psi.
Schwan said the drive through spray system has been two years in development and his system will soon be patented.

Schwan said he’s already had a lot of interest from poultry farmers as well as poultry processors and has sold his system to several local businesses.

Meantime, State and federal health and agriculture officials held meetings with poultry farmers across the state to update them on the latest efforts to prevent the virus from spreading in Georgia.

And in September, the Georgia Poultry Federation also launched a new campaign for poultry farmers, called, “All In or All Gone.”

Mike Giles, President of the Georgia Poultry Federation, said his group has been working to educate poultry farmers on what they can do to prevent the spread of this deadly virus.

“We’re working on two fronts,” Giles said. “One is education and outreach, stressing biosecurity at the farm level and with the producer. And the other is working with our State and federal partners, the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the USDA to prepare and be ready to respond if the avian influenza virus makes it way into Georgia.”

And while no cases of avian influenza have yet been reported since the case last summer in Georgia, the USDA and other state and federal agencies continue to work with the Georgia DNR to monitor wild waterfowl and their movements in the State.