According to local reports and the Michigan Dept. of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has infected poultry at a facility owned by Saranac, Mich.-based Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch Inc., the state’s top egg producer.
HPAI was detected at the company’s Green Meadow Organics facility in Ionia County, Mich., and it represents the fourth case of HPAI in a commercial facility in the state since 2022. The company’s veterinarian discovered sick birds at the facility over the weekend, and lab results “confirmed our fears that avian influenza was present,” Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch CEO Greg Herbruck was quoted in a statement sent to numerous media outlets.
The company further noted that it worked to protect the rest of its flocks by prohibiting movement between the facility and other sites — the Green Meadow Organics facility is separate from the company’s main poultry farm, the news reports noted.
The number of birds that will be euthanized due to the HPAI infection was not disclosed in any news reports nor the MDARD statement on the detection.
The Herbruck’s HPAI case represents the second major hit to the U.S. egg producing flock in the last few days, after the recent detection of the virus in a Cal-Maine Foods Texas egg producing facility forced the depopulation of nearly 2 million birds. A few days ago, Michigan agriculture officials confirmed the virus was present in cattle in Montcalm County and said the source was from infected cattle coming from Texas (one of two states in which avian influenza was detected in dairy cows last week).
