Bird flu and fear persist in Stearns County

The spread of avian flu in central Minnesota seems to have slowed a bit. But producers and poultry workers in Stearns County say their livelihoods will take a while to recover from the virus that has killed over 8.4 million birds on 104 Minnesota farms.

Pete Rothfork owns the feed mill in Melrose as well as several turkey farms.

"We have avian influenza on half of our farms," he said. "We have eight farms in Stearns County and four of them are affected."

The Rothforks have lost 195,000 turkeys — 135,000 of which were killed for eradication. They raise about a million turkeys a year.

Among mill shareholders, the avian flu crisis means they require less feed. The Melrose Feed Mill used to produce 18 loads of poultry feed a day. Now, they're down to four.

Rothfork has kept his 30 full-time employees, though he's had to cut back hours.

"Everybody's concerned when you have a major change in your life. It's been devastating," he said. "I've got big burly 40-year-old men that are in tears because of the loss of life. It's been very tough on us."

Stearns County Emergency Management hosted a meeting Tuesday in Melrose, bringing in representatives from county, state and federal agencies to address concerns about the flu's impact. About 70 people showed up to ask questions and hear updates.

"I think the main concern for people is what happens next," said Erin Hausauer, Stearns County emergency manager. "We've had a lot of response and a lot of things happening throughout the last couple of months. And really, the uncertainty of how much longer this is going to last and what might be happening next week or a month from now."

The county has about 130 chicken and turkey farms. Avian flu has hit 14 of those, about 11 percent.

For producers, the flu has brought daily stress.

"You don't know what you're going to see when you walk into the barn every morning," said Erica Nelson.

She works on her family's sixth-generation turkey farm near Alexandria and also as an ag program specialist for the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. Nelson said even for farmers who haven't been affected, it's hard to stay upbeat.

"It is devastating to see the numbers and it is hard, because there are so many unknowns about this virus," she said. "But I think most importantly we can't lose hope."

Jennie-O employs 800 people in Melrose, a town of 3,600. The company said in an email there haven't been layoffs, but work schedules have been affected. A couple of employees said they now work four days a week instead of five.

City Administrator Michael Brethorst said about 40 percent of the business in the city is related to poultry.

"We have seen a lot of effect on a lot of the families in our community," he said. "Some of the businesses in town here have had to reduce their hours of operation. Some of the local dairy farmers as well as turkey farmers in the area, well, they just don't have any turkeys to process right now so they've had to let some of their staff go."

Melrose Feed Mill owner Rothfork said he'll be reimbursed for most of his lost turkeys by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but he worries about future sales.

"The financial hit is still to come. If we don't get these barns repopulated by the end of June, we will miss that Thanksgiving market," he said.

But Rothfork expects to recover over time.

"This is a bump in the road," he said. "It's a very big bump, but we'll survive it."