Otago’s Hillgrove Farm restocks poultry sheds after bird-flu outbreak
By Gianina Schwanecke of RNZ
An Otago poultry farm at the centre of a bird flu outbreak nearly 18 months ago is now fully repopulated.
About 200,000 chickens at Hillgrove Farm near Dunedin were culled after it became the centre of the country’s first case of highly pathogenic bird flu in December 2024.
The H7N6 strain was not found anywhere else, and Mainland Poultry began repopulating last April, with the final flock introduced this past month.
Chief executive John McKay said it was an important milestone that had been a long time coming.
“So the farm is fully repopulated across both our rearing sheds and our laying shed - 200,000 birds back on farm, and that’s about 150,000 eggs a day, so the team is very busy with that,” he said.
“A lot of hard work from a lot of people, but it’s really nice to have a busy farm back, fully populated with birds and with a full team onboard there, ensuring we get great eggs out to consumers all around New Zealand.”
McKay said the whole process had lessons for Mainland Poultry, the wider industry and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
“We’re learning constantly from what’s happening around the world,” he said.
“Important when we sit down here in New Zealand in the agrisector that we continue to look out and look at what’s happening around the world and learn from what’s happening over there.
“At the end of the day, it really comes down to thorough and rigorous on-farm biosecurity - making sure we’re as prepared as we can be, that our commercial businesses are as resilient as we can make them.”
He said Mainland was still working through the compensation process.
Biosecurity New Zealand anticipated the total amount spent on the response - including compensation, which is commercially sensitive - would fall within the initial $20 million set aside by the Government during the initial response.
Assistant commissioner, compliance and response, Angus McKay, said that while there was strong confidence that eradication had been achieved, final shed surveillance in mid-June would provide an additional layer of assurance and mark the end of the response.
“With eradication achieved and the property fully operational again, the response is now transitioning to close-out.”
He said it had shown the importance of rapid containment measures, strong partnerships with industry, experienced leadership and effective on-the-ground co-ordination, as well as areas where preparedness can be strengthened, such as training and readiness planning.
“MPI continues to work closely with the poultry industry to strengthen on-farm biosecurity and resilience, with the aim of ensuring the industry is prepared for H5N1’s possible arrival.”
In September last year, a government/industry agreement formally established the Poultry Council to oversee the delivery of a joint readiness work programme between MPI and industry.
The agreement aims to minimise impacts on the sector by improving poultry farm biosecurity and establishing acceptable practice standards to guide eradication on individual farms.
Meanwhile, Mainland Poultry has confirmed new ownership of its business, with Pacific Equity Partners Gateway now joining current shareholders Navis.
The sale process has been underway for months but successfully concluded last week, subject to Overseas Investment Office approval.
- RNZ