Egg production in Iowa rebounded well in 2016 after the state suffered major losses in 2015 to the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said.
In a press release, Northey, citing the USDA’s latest Chicken and Eggs report, stated that Iowa egg production in October was 1.30 billion eggs, which was up 71 percent from October 2015. It was also up 3 percent from September 2016.
Northey also pointed out that the average number of all layers on hand during October was 53.7 million, up 1 percent from the previous month and 55 percent from October 2015.
However, Northey noted that egg prices have fallen dramatically, going from $1.26 per dozen in October 2015 to just $.21 per dozen in October of this year.
Iowa had more birds affected than any other state during the 2015 avian influenza outbreak, with 31.5 million chickens and turkeys being lost at 77 farms. Of those operations, 35 commercial turkey flocks, 22 commercial egg flocks, 13 pullet flocks, one chicken breeding operation and five backyard flocks were affected.
The last case of avian influenza reported in Iowa in 2015 occurred at a commercial layer farm in June, affecting about 1 million birds.
