Mainland Poultry chief executive John McKay and chairman of the Egg Producers Federation told Ryan Bridge TODAY the nationwide agribusiness had more than 1.3 million hens, with about 550,000 of those farmed as free-range.
He said free-range eggs made up about 45% of New Zealand’s total egg market, so there was clear consumer demand.
“Obviously, we care deeply about our birds,” McKay said.
“Let’s better understand the risk, understand where it might have spread or where it hasn’t spread, and then based on better understanding that risk, we can then make good decisions about what we do with those birds going forward.”
New Zealand’s first known case of the H5N1 strain was recorded on Wednesday in a wild brown skua found on Lower Hutt’s Petone Beach, with a second detection in a native kāhu, or swamp harrier, in the Wairarapa announced Friday.