Cumbrian farmers react to bird flu measures
They are welcoming the new housing orders.
As of now, all poultry must be kept inside as bird flu cases continue to rise.
The Government have confirmed that in response to increased findings of highly pathogenic avian influenza (’bird flu’) in wild birds and new cases in poultry and kept birds, the Avian Influenza housing measures are being extended in the north of England to mitigate the risk of further outbreaks of the disease.
The prevention zone measures apply to all bird keepers whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock and are essential to protecting birds from avian influenza.
It's a move that's been welcomed by poultry farmers in the county.
Will Case keeps over 20,000 birds on his farm, he said: "If it got here it would quickly hit the birds. There would be high death rates early on. To be honest they'd need culled out as soon as possible.
"That's for the good of the birds and the good of any other sites that they could come into contact with.
"With the measures we will log everything that comes on and off the farm, disinfect everything coming on or off the site, there's footbaths, fresh footwear for inside, change of footwear again for inside the birds, you register where you've been and we keep visitors to a minimum.
"This order does mean though we can house them inside and it'll be safer. We can add a layer of bio-security to protect them for the worst. Hopefully things do get a bit easier though and bird flu disapears.
"It's an extra-layer of protection and allows us to continue to mark our eggs as free range, but house them inside away from any potential carriers of bird flu."