The Farmer Logo

Laser deterrent is latest tool against HPAILaser deterrent is latest tool against HPAI

Rough year has producers using all tools available to keep flocks healthy.

Kevin Schulz, Editor

February 4, 2025

4 Min Read
A green laser on top of a barn
LASER SHOW: Migratory birds see the green laser ray as a predator and avoid the area around Butch Brey’s turkey barns, potentially reducing the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza from the wild birds to his domestic flock. Courtesy of Butch Brey

Loren “Butch” Brey does not want a repeat of the past year.

First, on Thanksgiving 2023, the turkey egg producer from the New Ulm area had two farms within four days infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, resulting in the loss of about 25,000 birds. Then, in spring 2024, his flock got hit with avian metapneumovirus.

“That AMPV pneumovirus blew through the state of Minnesota in about five days. It’s still here,” says Brey, president of the Minnesota Turkey Research and Promotion Council. He says 200-plus farms in Minnesota got hit with AMPV in that four- or five-day sweep through the state. Although AMPV does cause bird mortalities, with some growers losing 30% to 40% of their flocks, Brey says his egg production took the hit, going from 8,000 to 9,000 per day down to 400. Annually, Brey sells almost 3 million fertile eggs.

It was announced in late December that a modified live AMPV vaccine has been approved for importation into the U.S.

The hopes of Brey and his fellow turkey growers is that a vaccine soon will be available for HPAI, but even with that, Brey admits a HPAI vaccine wouldn’t necessarily be a silver bullet for the industry.

“That’s troublesome because of our export markets” not allowing vaccinated birds, “and the way this [HPAI] is mutating, how do you develop a vaccine?” he says. “You get a flu vaccine, you can still get the flu. … I’ve got a thousand questions, but not many answers.”

Related:Minnesota Leopold finalists named

HPAI first infected one of Brey’s brood barns around Memorial Day 2015. “My brood guy called and said he had nine dead, so we put off hauling because I knew in my heart what it was,” he says. During an animal health emergency such as HPAI infection, the entire flock needs to be euthanized, and Brey had to do a ventilation shutdown on the brood barn.

“In the 30 years of doing this, that was the hardest day of my life,” he recalls, “to stand out there and pull that handle down” to shut off the ventilation.

Stepping up the ‘B’ word

To prevent more of those “hardest days,” Brey has implemented biosecurity measures, although he loathes that word. “I’m tired of that word biosecurity. I really am,” he says, “but we’re kind of at the end of our rope.

Biosecurity on Brey's farm includes designated parking, Danish entry before taking a shower within barns, designated barn clothes, then yet another Danish entry where his eight to 10 employees change clothes and get different boots.

“Once my employees are in the barn, they’re in the barn — [they’re] going to go about their day,” he says. “My barns are connected with halls, so you are never going outside. You will go outside when you leave, and then you reverse your way out the same way you came in.”

Related:Start with mental health communication

Butch Brey - turkey egg producer from the New Ulm area

Sci-fi tool

Practices of that loathsome “B” word are effective in maintaining flock health, but Brey has recently implemented another tool in the turkey producer toolbox: a tool sounding like it’s straight out of a science-fiction novel.

A year ago, Brey installed five AVIX autonomic laser bird deterrent systems, which aim to scare away migratory birds that have the potential to infect domestic flocks with HPAI.

Brey mounted the laser beam units on the ends of his barns. As where humans see a green laser beam, migratory birds see a predator, and they avoid the barn areas.

So far, the system appears to be effective.

“I would say it’s keeping 70-plus percent of potentially migratory birds away from my facilities,” he says, adding that 80% to 90% of migration occurs at night, thus the laser beams are more effective after sundown.

As with any effective tool, price is critical, and he says these units run from $14,000 to $16,000 per unit. Brey also credits Minnesota for being a leader in the fight against HPAI, and one example is a grant program offering up to $10,000 per farm to cover costs.

Related:Learning curve of open-pen gestation

“In my mind, Minnesota is and will have to take the lead in this, because yes, Minnesota is the largest turkey-producing state, and the major processing plants are here,” he says, also crediting the University of Minnesota’s continued research into flock protection. “The answers for this, I believe, are going to come from Minnesota.”

Brey looks for answers so that he doesn’t have a repeat of the past year.

About the Author

Kevin Schulz

Editor, The Farmer

Kevin Schulz joined The Farmer as editor in January of 2023, after spending two years as senior staff writer for Dakota Farmer and Nebraska Farmer magazines. Prior to joining these two magazines, he spent six years in a similar capacity with National Hog Farmer. Prior to joining National Hog Farmer, Schulz spent a long career as the editor of The Land magazine, an agricultural-rural life publication based in Mankato, Minn.

During his tenure at The Land, the publication grew from covering 55 Minnesota counties to encompassing the entire state, as well as 30 counties in northern Iowa. Covering all facets of Minnesota and Iowa agriculture, Schulz was able to stay close to his roots as a southern Minnesota farm boy raised on a corn, soybean and hog finishing farm.

One particular area where he stayed close to his roots is working with the FFA organization.

Covering the FFA programs stayed near and dear to his heart, and he has been recognized for such coverage over the years. He has received the Minnesota FFA Communicator of the Year award, was honored with the Minnesota Honorary FFA Degree in 2014 and inducted into the Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame in 2018.

Schulz attended South Dakota State University, majoring in agricultural journalism. He was also a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and now belongs to its alumni organization.

His family continues to live on a southern Minnesota farm near where he grew up. He and his wife, Carol, have raised two daughters: Kristi, a 2014 University of Minnesota graduate who is married to Eric Van Otterloo and teaches at Mankato (Minn.) East High School, and Haley, a 2018 graduate of University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She is married to John Peake and teaches in Hayward, Wis. 

When not covering the agriculture industry on behalf of The Farmer's readers, Schulz enjoys spending time traveling with family, making it a quest to reach all 50 states — 47 so far — and three countries. He also enjoys reading, music, photography, playing basketball and enjoying nature and campfires with friends and family.

Subscribe to receive top agriculture news
Be informed daily with these free e-newsletters

You May Also Like