The third and last day of the Moorhead seminar; MARL Class VIII met on Friday, November 13 at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel.
Topic of the leadership session: “Decision Making when the Stakes are High” -The Highly Pathogenic Avian Flu Outbreak
Hartmann, Starkey, Westbrock and Olson
Our main objective for the day was an in-depth study of the Avian Influenza crisis this pas spring. Steve Olson (Executive Director for the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, MARL Class II) presented an overview of the crisis, and introduced the panelists. Our panelists, Jessica Westbrock (turkey farmer, Melrose), Dr. Bill Hartmann (MN Board of Animal Health), Mike Starkey (MN Dept of Ag) and Steve Olson each took time and talked extensively on how the crisis affected them and how they reacted.
A summary:
9.3 million birds were affected.
Avian Influenza resulted in a $650,000 economic loss.
The Avian Influenza crisis is deemed the largest animal disaster outbreak in the U.S..
110 Farms were affected, which equates to about 10% of the birds in Minnesota.
After each panelist presented to our group, the discussion was opened up to questions. A lot of questions. The last part of the session was dedicated to small group discussion where each of the panelists talked to one particular team. I know we all learned a great deal more about the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and our state organizations will be even better prepared for when or if it happens again.
Submitted by Wanda Patsche
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