
Two more commercial meat turkey operations in South Dakota have been impacted by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The presence of the virus was confirmed in both flocks on November 9, according to a report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
One of the affected flocks was in McPherson County and involved 58,400 turkeys. The other was in Roberts County and involved 51,200 turkeys.
Just one day earlier, APHIS confirmed the presence of HPAI in two other commercial farms. One was a meat turkey producer in Charles Mix County while the other was a commercial upland gamebird facility in Clark County. When APHIS first announced the gamebird flock infection, it did not offer information regarding how many birds were affected, but the agency has since provided updated information on its website, now stating that there were 8,500 gamebirds in that flock.
Presently South Dakota ranks second among states in terms of the number of commercial operations to be affected by HPAI during the 2022-23 outbreak. Of those affected flocks, eight have been in McPherson County and two have been in Roberts County.
Minnesota has lost 93 commercial flocks to the virus, while South Dakota has lost 76 flocks. Pennsylvania is a distant third with 31 commercial flocks affected.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.