In one fell swoop, an outbreak of bird flu has destroyed the 51-year-old’s livelihood. After nearly 40 years – he started raising geese as a boy – Childerhouse is still coming to terms with the loss. “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” he says, recalling how quickly the infection spread through his herd. He believes the disease was brought to his farm by wild birds, which initially carried it to his geese. The highly contagious bird flu that has been sweeping Britain for more than a year, and has picked up steam in recent weeks, is deadly for farmed animals such as turkeys and geese. However, any outbreak is also disastrous for farmers, as the remaining birds in the area must be killed. At present, the disease is not easily transmitted from birds to humans. “I’ve never seen anything like it before and I don’t want to see it again,” says Childerhouse. “We had taken these birds from day-old chicks.” He’s reeling not just from the financial hit, but from the “emotional roller coaster” of dealing with bird flu, which he likens to grief. After the slaughter, he had to inform all the local butchers and farm shops that normally sell his birds and warn all his regular workers that he would not be able to offer them much-needed seasonal work this year. It’s the Covid of poultry, except turkeys and other poultry don’t get sick and don’t recover. Paul Kelly, farmer, just dies Childerhouse has already decided not to return to goose farming and is looking for work elsewhere in the meantime. The UK’s worst outbreak of bird flu has sparked fears over the availability of British turkeys and geese this Christmas. The newly appointed agriculture secretary, Mark Spencer, told the Observer that it would be “quite a challenge” for consumers to get a British goose “because there has been such devastation in the sector”. He insisted, however, that there should be enough turkeys to go around, thanks to strong supply chains. Almost 9 million turkeys are eaten in the UK every Christmas, of which around 90% are British, according to the British Poultry Council. The sector relies on the seasonal supply of reared, slaughtered and processed birds in time for all those festive meals. The industry body says the free-range sector has been hit hardest by bird flu, with around 35% of producers – who between them rear more than a million birds each year – directly affected. There have been 100 confirmed cases of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza in England since early October. The outbreak has now been running for more than a year, since October 2021, and in that time there have been more than 230 cases. It has so far led to the culling of 3.5 million birds on UK farms and has put pressure on UK egg producers at a time when rising energy and feed costs are driving many out of the industry. Avian flu cases usually decrease during the summer months, but that was not the case this year. The disease was most acute in East Anglia, especially in Childerhouse’s home county of Norfolk. It is currently spreading north and west, with several confirmed cases in Lincolnshire, Cheshire and North Yorkshire, as well as north Wales and Anglesey. This wave of bird flu is also spreading across Europe. Experts suspect that the disease is now endemic in wild birds, creating a year-round risk of infection. There is no bird flu vaccine available yet. Late last month, among other measures, the government ordered all poultry and other captive birds in England to be housed indoors. This was an extension of the stay-at-home order that had been in place in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex since mid-October. However, many in the poultry industry believe this move has come too late. They have been calling for several weeks for a national poultry housing order following an outbreak of outbreaks. More outbreaks on farms are expected as more migratory birds return to the UK for the winter. East Norfolk Avian Influenza Control Zone: all animals in the area must be kept indoors by order. Photo: Joe Giddens/PA A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it had announced “a package of support that includes faster compensation packages, as well as strengthening biosecurity rules to minimize the risk of the disease spreading”. The package also included a change to the rules of the bird flu compensation scheme available to farmers: they are now eligible for compensation payments from the beginning rather than the end of a planned cull. And in a move designed to give them more certainty about business planning, poultry farmers are now allowed to slaughter their animals early and freeze them so the birds can be thawed and sold to consumers in the run-up to Christmas , marked “previously frozen”. Third-generation turkey farmer Paul Kelly has already started processing some of his birds several weeks earlier than usual to avoid rising bird flu cases. “It’s the Covid of poultry, except turkeys and other poultry don’t get sick and don’t recover. they just die,” he says from his farm in Essex. “I can honestly say this is the worst year I’ve had in my entire professional career.” Kelly calls the government’s compensation scheme “not fit for purpose”. He lost 9,000 of his 65,000 Christmas turkeys after an outbreak of bird flu at one of his facilities, although KellyBronze’s top birds were not affected. Unlike other animals, under current legislation, farmers are only compensated for the number of birds that are fit and healthy at the start of the bird flu disaster. “The industry tells us this is years out of date and not fit for purpose,” says Kelly. Hundreds of birds can succumb to the disease between the farm notifying authorities of an outbreak and officials arriving to begin the cull. Poultry is an “under-supported sector” according to Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union. He warns that, with bird flu coming on top of 30% cost price inflation, farmers are struggling. “We need to make sure we don’t lose the critical mass of poultry producers, for eggs and meat,” Batters adds. “We have to take special action. We have severe market failure due to illness. The compensation package should be enough to give farmers the confidence to continue producing because they are also facing inflationary costs.” Howard Blackwell is another Essex turkey farmer who is literally and figuratively at a loss following an outbreak of bird flu among his flock of 5,500 turkeys and 1,800 geese in early October. The 59-year-old introduced turkeys to the farm his grandparents set up at Coggeshall, near Braintree, in 1983 as an extra source of income. However, he estimates he will have lost almost £200,000 as a result of the outbreak and it is currently unclear how much compensation he will receive. The farm shop and wholesale meat business have been allowed to continue operating, but under strict restrictions. Bird flu is not a one-time concern for Blackwell and other affected farmers. The complex and expensive clean-up operation required after an outbreak, which can include a legally-mandated 12-month delay in restocking birds, means he is unsure whether he will even be allowed to raise poultry next year. Until there is a vaccine for bird flu, Blackwell fears for the future. “It’s like Russian roulette. If you don’t have a vaccine, you could restock and it could happen again.”
