Farms decimated by disease

A POULTRY farmer who has lost tens of thousands of animals to bird flu this year has called for fresh legislation to allow vaccination against the disease.

- BY STEPH SPYRO Environment Editor

Mark Gorton, founder of Traditional Norfolk Poultry, lost two farms of turkeys because of avian influenza in October and November.

He said: “We do hundreds of thousands of turkeys, so in the big picture it hasn’t dented our supply numbers too badly.

“But, of course, we've been working under the most intense pressure you can imagine, where we're desperately trying to get all our birds in, ready for Christmas, when every single day you just don’t know if another farmer is going to go down with this disease. It’s incredibly hard.”

Decimated

There has been a huge rise in bird flu cases this year compared with the previous two, Mr Gorton said.

But the figures have been better compared with a disastrous year for the disease in 2022 which decimated flocks across the UK.