Poultry producers race to protect their flocks with fears for egg prices
Australia’s poultry industry is racing to protect its farms from H5 bird flu amid fears a single infection could wipe out entire flocks and dramatically increase egg prices.
There has been no reports of the deadly avian flu in Australian commercial poultry farms however the nation’s first mass mortality event was confirmed on Monday with the deaths of dozens of wild seabirds in South Australia.
Egg and poultry producers say even one infection could cause egg prices to soar. Nine
While some egg producers are pouring millions of dollars into new biosecurity, others say they simply cannot do the same.
Victorian producer Bradley McAuliffe told 9News his farm shut down almost overnight in 2024 when the H7 bird flu wiped out about two million birds nationwide.
“We lost in excess of 600,000 birds in a matter of 14 days,” McAuliffe said.
“In the last three years we have invested tens of millions of dollars in biosecurity, not only as a business but industry as well.
“H5 is going to land on one of our commercial farms, if it’s not ours it will be one of our neighbours and if it’s not one of our neighbours it will be interstate.”
He’s recently shifted packing and grading off the farm and introduced tighter surveillance inside enclosures to stave off H5 as long as possible.
“At any one time we are considering everyone and anyone a threat.”
However, in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, ethical and sustainable producer 9Dorf Farms is grappling with how to isolate free-range birds from wild birds when she cannot close the doors
“We have pasture-raised poultry... it would not be feasible or viable for us to take them inside,” Bronwyn Neuendorf said.
“We just don’t have the facilities here.”
Instead, they’re using electric netting, a guard dog and quarantine-level precautions in the hope they can mitigate the impact.
It’s also hoped the warmer climate in Queensland may be less favourable to H5 than the cooler southern states.
“The best sanitation is the sun,” Neuendorf said.
Free range hens and their guard dog at 9Dorf Farms in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, who say housing all their pasture-raised hens is unfeasible. Nine
Free range egg producers who opt to keep their hens inside due to the bird flu outbreak may continue to label their eggs as free range under existing regulations, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
So far, orders to keep hens housed due to the outbreak are voluntary.
If state governments opt to mandate housing orders, the ACCC will not take enforcement action for 90 days, giving producers time to source alternative labelling and consumer information stating the eggs are from housed hens.
Distributor Peter Marinos of Big Michael’s Fruit & Market Eggs supplies millions of eggs to the hospitality sector.
He told 9News the industry is playing the waiting game and warns one commercial infection could double the price of a carton of eggs.
“It’s really a ticking time bomb to know when it’s going to happen,” Marinos said.
“It’s going to be extreme price rises.”
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