As the CDC and farmers in Ohio continue to monitor the impacts of Avian Influenza, the issue of how to prevent the spread in flocks is usually a hot topic.

Rotational grazing is a regenerative agriculture practice and involves moving the animals around with a very specific purpose, and it could be a key factor in blocking bird flu.

“The chickens moved because I wanted them to be in a spot for the winter time,” said Judith Horvath as she walked around her 19-acre farm.

Horvath is the founder of Fair Hill Farm in Lancaster, Ohio. She travels around the country teaching people how to start a regenerative farm.

The turkeys, sheep, chickens, and even the llama are all still there, just in different places. The animals fertilize the soil, and Horvath helps them move to a new spot.

When it comes to bird flu, keeping the animals on the move could be a good thing. 

“It’s always present, it’s out there, and any person who has poultry of any kind knows of the risks that are out there,” she said.

Horvath said there isn’t a lot of research comparing the transmission of bird flu in backyard flocks versus houses flocks.

“But I can tell you that amongst the regenerative agriculture group and the people who move their flocks around to different locations, they report that they have, if they get infected they have very low death rates and have high levels of survivability, and there’s even some that have claimed that over the years they have been able to breed up to partial inherited immunity,” Horvath said.

By rotating with a purpose, she’s helping animals mimic the way they behave in the wild. 

“Keep the animals moving. They’re always on fresh ground so it doesn’t beat down the ground and it doesn’t have a lot of accumulation of fecal matter and it keeps the animals moving onto something interesting, something to eat, it gives them mental stimulation,” she said.

Horvath encourages farmers who have flocks large and small to take a closer look when testing.

“PCR test itself is controversial, the way that it works and depending on how many cycles you have turned it up to, you can get a false positive very easily, so I encourage people to think about if they get a positive PCR test to do a blood test for the actual pathogen itself or opt for a quarantine before proactive culling,” she said.

For Horvath, regenerative agriculture has been a key not only to her farm’s success but the overall health of her animals…and the eighth generation chickens. 

“It really helps the animals' immune systems and I believe that over time we can help our animals, just like the wild animals, to evolve to a point where they will become more resilient,” she said.