The U-S-D-A’s latest report on the number of egg-laying hens is showing the impact of the outbreak of bird flu with the flock at its smallest level since 2004. Iowa is the nation’s largest egg producer and the U-S-D-A says total eggs produced in Iowa dropped 28 percent this May compared to last year. The U-S-D-A’s Gregg Thessen says that type of drop would have raised concern in any other year.

” If we wouldn’t have known that there was a disease outbreak, obviously it would have been pretty stunning. But it hasn’t been a secret that there’s been a disease outbreak. So we pretty much knew that it was coming,” Thessen says. What’s not known is how long the flu outbreak will persist, though new reported cases in Iowa have slowed dramatically in June.

(Radio Iowa)