Texas Agriculture Commissioner: With bird flu, state is ‘doing it right’

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Bird flu is behind rising egg prices nationwide, as growers cull flocks to contain the virus, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. But Texas’ top farm official said the state has handled the pandemic well.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told KXAN Friday that the state’s cattle herds and poultry flocks currently don’t have any reported bird flu cases.

“Bird flu is bad. In Texas, apparently, we’re doing it right,” he said. “We had it in our dairy herd last year. We’ve taken precautionary measures.”

“Big poultry states like Georgia are getting hit bad. That’s why eggs are over $6 a dozen right now,” Miller said.

According to a report from Texas A&M’s AgriLife Today, the country’s population of egg-laying hens dropped by nearly seven million from January 2024. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the bird flu affects nearly 13.23 million birds in infected flocks as of Friday.

“It’s spread by migratory waterfowl. So the waterfowl are down here as soon as they move out, in 60 to 90 days, we should be fine,” Miller added.

The virus can spread to and infect humans, cattle, dogs, cats, and birds. The severity of symptoms ranges by species. Human-to-human spread has not been reported, with the handful of human cases mostly involving farm workers in proximity to infected animals.