Farmer reacts to bird flu threat

By Dan Parkinson
BBC News

John Elsden's flock have all been moved indoors.

John Elsden runs a free-range egg business and keeps 16,000 chickens on his farm at Needham in Suffolk which is 12 miles from the bird flu outbreak.

Here, he explains the precautions he has taken since the virus was discovered and outlines what it could mean for his business.

I decided to go into the free-range egg business a few years ago and we built a £350,000 chicken shed after getting a loan.

We had been an arable farm for years, but there was no return so we decided to diversify.

We could see the free range sector was growing but always knew it would have been a bit of a risk.

Free-range eggs account for about 30% of eggs sold in Britain and we are audited at least six times a year by various bodies to check we are doing it right.

No contact

Our birds, being outside, are always more likely to get bird flu because they could come into contact with wild birds.

We have got 40 acres of grass for the birds to roam on. We open the pop holes at the shed each morning and let the birds out.

We have had no contact from Defra since the outbreak. We heard about it on the radio.

Farmers are concerned about the impact on their industry

I had a phone call from another local producer who said he'd had a text from Defra and he told me to keep my chickens in.

We are in the outer exclusion zone which means our birds must not come into contact with wild birds, so we are keeping them in at the moment.

I'm working with the chickens every day and the health risk doesn't concern me. If you take certain precautions you are unlikely to get bird flu in the flock.

We already have measures in place. We are big on cleanliness such as always washing our hands and changing our footwear after we've been to the shed.

Repercussions

After the outbreak we've we have put extra foot dips in and are restricting the people going up to the shed.

It is a possibility that we will have to cull the flock if the bird flu gets to our chickens. It could have serious implications for our livelihood but that is out of our control.

In a few weeks time they could say "let your chickens out" but bird flu might still be in the wild bird population.

But when we borrowed money and started this business we knew there might be risks. We aren't insured for it, you can't insure against disease.

There could be serious repercussions for our business but you just have to do the best you can.