Northamptonshire turkey farmer hopeful he will fulfil all Christmas orders despite national avian bird flu outbreak

A Northamptonshire turkey farmer is hopeful he will be able to fulfil all of his Christmas orders despite the national avian bird flu outbreak that means restrictions have been imposed.

Tom Jeffries owns Newbold Turkeys in Staverton, near Daventry, which produces around 1,000 turkeys each year for Christmas.

Nationally, it is reported that nearly half of British free-range turkeys have been lost, or culled, due to the avian flu outbreak. In West Northamptonshire, there have been no bird flu outbreaks, according to Gov.uk. In Oundle, there are four premises affected, with a protection zone set up around the area.

Although West Northamptonshire is currently unaffected, farms in the area - as well as across the country - are having to abide by a Government implemented rule that all poultry have to be kept indoors to reduce the risk of the disease spreading. This is causing an issue for some free-range farms who may not have the indoor facility needed.

Tom says he moved all his birds indoors around a week to 10 days before the Government made it mandatory.

The farmer said: “I was getting apprehensive and nervous and we have the facility to house my birds that I rear. We do free-range because it is nice to have but their welfare isn’t compromised by being indoors.”

Tom is also taking extra precautions to protect his birds against the outbreak. He says he has separate boots for being with his turkeys, which he changes every time he goes in and out. Tom says he is not at the PPE stage yet, but that he knows some places that are.

With the outbreak in mind, Tom also says that he will begin the Christmas turkey process next week, which is around a week earlier than other years. Although he says other factors have contributed to this date change, as well.

He added: “The process will start next week then the risk factor reduces.

“I currently have all my birds for my Christmas turkeys so I can meet all my requests. I also still have availability, but if we are affected I may have to contact customers and say I will have to refund them. I would then lose the card cost of around 2.5 percent, but customers will get a full refund.

“We are all just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping.”

Tom explained that his business does not solely rely on Christmas turkeys, so he does not have too much to worry about, especially as he says “I’ve done as much as I can to mitigate the risks”. But he says that if this was the main part of someone’s business he can understand that it would be “stressful and worrying”.

This year, Tom has already sold 300 birds via his website, and he expects to sell 200 more. The other 500 are supplied to three butchers, including one in Northampton and another in Brixworth.