“I hope that, because it concerns a hobby holder, it is not that bad and that the measures will be short-lived.” Poultry farmer Peters from Lettele is very disappointed with the transport ban that has been introduced now that bird flu has been diagnosed in Heeten. Peters has a business in hatching eggs, which are normally collected about twice a week for export. This is therefore not possible for the time being due to the transport ban.
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On Tuesday, bird flu was diagnosed at a private poultry farmer in Heeten. More than six hundred animals from the hobby farmer, including swans and ducks, were subsequently killed. The NVWA immediately imposed a transport ban for all poultry farms within a radius of ten kilometers from the contamination. Within a radius of three kilometers around that location, all poultry farms are screened for bird flu. Peters and his company are also within those three kilometres.
At the expense of quality
“The NVWA called me on Tuesday morning about the contamination. The transport ban applies in any case for fourteen days, they said. So I have to store the eggs myself for that long, and that is at the expense of quality.” He cannot yet say what this will cost him financially, but the longer the measures apply, the greater the financial loss. “All disruption has consequences.”
Peters now mainly hopes that none of the poultry farms that are screened by the NVWA will discover the virus. Because then the measures will take much longer, he foresees. And then the consequences for his trade are also greater. Trading the eggs in his own country is not really an option for him. “I can only sell very limited here.”
Lots of extra administration
A few kilometers away in Raalte, outside the three kilometer zone but within the ten kilometer zone, Robert Nijkamp has his company with broilers and cows. “I now have a lot of extra administration due to the transport ban. But at the moment I have no damage as far as the broilers are concerned. They will stay here for the next few weeks, before they are collected.” If the transport ban is going to last longer, then the story will also be different for him. How different is not yet known.
The transport ban has no consequences for the part of the business where he keeps cows, because the two parts of the business are well separated from each other. Nijkamp is now paying extra attention to his poultry. “You are now going to keep a very close eye on any loss of your own poultry. If you are not familiar with something, it is now important to immediately ring the bell.”
Union does not expect other infections
Bart Jan Oplaat, chairman of the Dutch Union for Poultry Farmers, does not expect that there will be more infections within that radius of three kilometers in addition to the infection at the hobby farmer. “I expect it to stay that way. The caution with which we are now dealing with it is really great. We have developed a lot of hygiene protocols as a result of 2003, when the bird flu passed from farm to farm. You don’t really see that anymore. “
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