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COMMISSIONER DOUGLASS URGES BACKYARD FLOCK OWNERS TO REGISTER PREMISES
Charleston, W.Va – West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture Gus R. Douglass is urging more owners of “backyard flocks” to register their farms in the state’s premise identification (PID) system in the wake of an incident involving low-pathogenicity avian influenza (AI) at a Pendleton County farm.
“When setting up our surveillance zones around the affected farm, we had no difficulty locating the commercial flocks within a six-mile radius of the affected farm because the poultry companies operating in the area know where all the houses are,” said Commissioner Douglass.
“But we had no idea about the number and location of smaller farms with poultry. This made our response effort much more difficult than it needed to be in that we had to devote vital personnel to literally driving every road in the area to look for farms with poultry,” he continued.
Four employees spent three days visiting 156 residences, 17 of which had birds. Only two of those farms had premise identification numbers.
Testing of so-called backyard flocks is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s program to reassure foreign trading partners that any AI outbreak in this country has been thoroughly eradicated.
“The ability to put those small farms on a map would have greatly assisted us at the outset of this incident, spared valuable manpower for other duties and saved the taxpayer quite a few dollars,” Commissioner Douglass said. “Our goal through all of this was to protect the local economy in the Eastern Panhandle, which benefits everyone in that area, not just commercial poultry producers.”
West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) State Veterinarian Joe Starcher noted that cattle producers in West Virginia have embraced the system, which helps to improve the marketability of state cattle.
“I think a lot of people see this as an issue for the ‘big producers’, but it’s every bit as important for the small farmer. With better information, we could have contacted these bird owners directly to provide them with information on the situation and how to protect their birds,” said Dr. Starcher. “West Virginia leads the nation in the percentage of family-owned farms. Our goal is to protect those farmers as much as it is to protect our commercial industries.”
Dr. Starcher added that the only information requested for the PID program is name, mailing address, phone number, physical location (such as GPS coordinates – determined by WVDA), and types of animals on the farm. The form also requests the farm’s business structure – which only matters if it is a publicly traded corporation.
Publicly traded corporations are subject to disclosure rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Data provided by small farms participating in the PID program is held in strict confidence by the WVDA. “I can’t imagine why anyone other than us would want it to begin with,” Dr. Starcher said.
To register - or for more information - visit www.wvagriculture.org and click the “Animal Health” link, or phone 304-558-2214.
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The West Virginia Department of Agriculture protects plant, animal and human health through a variety of scientific, regulatory and consumer protection programs, as mandated by state law. The Commissioner of Agriculture is one of six statewide elected officials in West Virginia. Currently, Commissioner Gus R. Douglass is the longest-serving agriculture commissioner in the nation. For more information, visit www.wvagriculture.org.
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