The effects of bird flu ripple through one Iowa county, the hardest hit in the nation

Nearly 5.5 million chickens and turkeys have died or had to be destroyed in Buena Vista County, Iowa, during the latest bird flu outbreak — more than in any other county in the nation. That’s impacted producers, as well as workers and their families.
Colin Johnson has been around turkeys for nearly seven decades. But he went through what he called the most devastating, wasteful livestock experience of his entire life this spring.

All of his turkeys – nearly 40,000 – were killed to contain the fast-spreading bird flu.

“You put your heart and soul into something,” said Johnson, who raises turkeys in the northwest Iowa town of Albert City, “and then instantly it’s gone. You’ll never recover that work.”

Johnson had been required to test his flocks for highly pathogenic avian influenza after two flocks nearby were found positive for the virus.