Astral Foods, South Africa’s largest poultry producer, plans to extend its bird flu vaccination programme to another two farms.
The announcement was made by Astral CEO Gary Arnold after the release of the company’s financial results this month.
Astral is so far the only poultry producer to vaccinate its chickens against bird flu, which devastated South Africa’s poultry industry in 2023. It began with a pilot project in July at a breeder farm in Gauteng, and two of its Mpumalanga farms have now also been approved for vaccination.
African Farming reported that Astral plans to start vaccinating birds on these farms next year so that they can develop immunity by the end of summer, ahead of winter.
Although bird flu used to appear mainly in winter, Arnold noted a concerning trend: Outbreaks are now occurring in other seasons as well, as seen recently in the United States and especially in the European Union.
Astral is vaccinating its breeder flock with an imported vaccine targeting the H5N1 strain – the same strain responsible for outbreaks in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and the Western Cape over the past six months. Arnold added that H5N1 was also recently confirmed in chickens at a small-scale producer in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal, which supplies the live market.
Once the parent stock on the two Mpumalanga farms has been vaccinated, 30% of Astral’s breeder flock will be protected – “good news for us,” Arnold said.
