By Cheryl Jahn

Turkey shortage looming

Nov 24, 2022 | 4:01 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Homesteader Meats has turkeys. That’s because they are sourced out of the Peace Country, one of the few areas of BC that hasn’t been hit with the bird flu.

“The bird flu started about February of last year in Indiana, and it moved up into Canada fairly quickly in eastern Canada,” says Tom Sentes, owner of Homesteader Meats. “And it’s been moving across the provinces since then. And it’s become quite serious. And so it’s going to hurt the bird industry for a fair what could be a year and a half. But when we first heard about it, I took some steps to protect us in our store.”

“About a year ago now, it came from Europe over to Canada and landed in Newfoundland, obviously on a migratory bird and it has moved its way west,” says Andrea Brittain with the BC Poultry Association. We had outbreaks in beginning in April and then we had a bit of a busy spring. It died down a little bit over the summer, but not as much as we normally see. And right now we are getting quite a number of positive farms and unfortunately, turkeys seem to be quite vulnerable.”

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With the turkey season, specifically Christmas, a month away, there will be a challenge.

“Well, there is no shortage on eggs or chicken,” explains Brittain. “We’re not expecting to see any there The avian influenza epidemic is making it challenging for Turkey farmers and processors to fulfill the market for Christmas.”

Having heard about the westward movement of the bird flu, Sentes says he took some proactive measures, knowing the flu was coming.

This is coming on the heels of a devastating flood season last year that destroyed the agricultural sector to the south, Sentes says it will take much more than the end of the year to bounce back from the bird flu. “Basically, it has to be culled so the veterinarian will come in and say ‘You have to cull this flock.’ So they cull the whole thing,” explains Sentes. “Then they have to go through and sanitize everything. So the whole building, the ground, all the feed process that they do, everything has to be sanitized and that takes weeks of work. Then you’ve got to go ahead and start your flock up. So now that you have to buy the eggs that are going to hatch into whatever birds that you’re going to sell, and then go from there. So it’s a bit more complicated than it appears.”

So if you have your heart set on a turkey dinner this holiday season, better think about picking up the bird now.