THE owner of a turkey business has described the “nightmare” impact of the bird flu outbreak.

Paul Kelly, the owner of KellyBronze, based in Danbury, lost 9,800 turkeys in the space of one weekend from the flu.

However the business will not receive any compensation for the loss.

This has cost the business £750,000 and Mr Kelly said he had lost sleep worrying about the impact.

He said: “It cost us a fortune, it’s a nightmare.

“We will stand it, we will survive but it’s a massive loss.

“We are not allowed to vaccinate as an industry and the compensation scheme only covers animals which were fit before the vet got there, so we will get no compensation for them.

“For the big companies it’s okay but it’s not for small companies like us.

“We have lots of farms close by and luckily at the moment they haven’t been affected.

“We are plucking them ten days early now just to be safe.”

Mr Kelly has confirmed his famous Kelly Bronze turkeys have not been affected by the outbreak and the turkeys which died were grown for other companies.

The bird flu outbreak was discussed in Parliament on Tuesday. 

Mark Spencer, the Minister of State for the department for environment, food and rural affairs spoke about the new relaxation of rules for the sale of previously frozen seasonal poultry products.

This means that producers can slaughter their flocks early so that they can be frozen and then sold as chilled before Christmas.

Mr Kelly said: “The frozen relaxation will work, it’s the right thing to do as Christmas poultry producers won’t go into next year without it.

“Usually, bird flu is more common in the winter but this year we’ve seen cases in the summer.

“Supplies of standard fresh turkey should be okay but free-range turkey will be in short supply.

“I don’t think farmers will grow Christmas turkey next year at this rate.

“If the government hasn’t allowed us to vaccinate then the compensation scheme needs to be fit for purpose.”

Sir John Whittingdale, the MP for Maldon spoke in the parliament debate, and said: “The compensation arrangements outlined will do very little to help small producers such as KellyBronze in my constituency.

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“Will he look to pay compensation from the date of notification, if the flock proves to be positive, as is the case for other species suffering from, for instance, foot and mouth disease?

“Will he confirm now that “freeze and thaw” will be available on the same basis next autumn, to give farmers the confidence to invest in birds for Christmas 2023?”

Mr Spencer responded and said: “We have moved the start of compensation to as early as legally possible without the introduction of primary legislation.

“We are seeking to assist farmers as much as we can when they are caught out by this terrible disease.”