Avian flu breaks out among Diestel turkeys in Sonora. What it means for Thanksgiving

Tuolumne County and its popular, long-running turkey farm Diestel Family Ranch have been hit with an outbreak of the highly contagious and deadly avian influenza.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, close to 300,000 turkeys in the foothills county are part of the outbreak of the highly pathogenic disease also known as bird flu. Fourth-generation farmer Heidi Diestel confirmed that their family’s commercial turkey flock experienced an outbreak recently, and more than 100,000 of their birds were destroyed to stop its spread.

Diestel declined to give exact numbers for “bio-security” reasons due to their active outbreak. The USDA site lists four detection incidents in Tuolumne County from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1 of this year at “commercial turkey meat bird” facilities. In total, 290,200 turkeys have been euthanized so far in the county as part of the outbreak.

Diestel, which began as a family farm in 1949, has multiple facilities in western Tuolumne County and a large home ranch just northeast of Sonora.

Diestel Family Ranch is known for its specialty turkey products, which includes organic, pasture-fed and heirloom whole bird varieties. The family owned company distributes across the country including through Whole Foods and Safeway.

The Tuolumne County outbreak was first reported by the Sonora-based Union Democrat earlier this week. The regional incidents are part of a larger nationwide avian flu outbreak that has infected more than 40 million commercial chickens and turkeys.

A Fresno County poultry farm was the first commercial facility in California affected by avian flu, resulting in the destruction of nearly 34,000 chickens.

Diestel said the family business has been advised to not disclose the exact number of their birds hit by the outbreak or locations of the ranches with infected animals for security reasons, so people do not go to those sites and potentially spread the disease.

She said the outbreak was across multiple facilities, and affected turkeys of all varieties and not just one specific type. That means they will have fewer turkeys overall to distribute come Thanksgiving and the holidays, their busiest time of year.

But, Diestel said people shouldn’t panic that they won’t be able to find their Thanksgiving turkeys in stores. While the infected birds were being raised in preparation for the holidays, she said, they will be able to meet their obligations.

“We will still have plenty of turkeys for the holidays. Less than we would have had, but we will still have plenty of Diestel turkeys out there,” she said.

She does recommend people interested in buying Diestel turkeys for the holidays plan ahead and order early. She also said the family has decided not to change the prices of their turkeys this season, despite experiencing what she described as a “catastrophic event” for the ranch.

Humans cannot contract avian influenza from eating properly prepared eggs or poultry, according to the USDA. Human bird flu infections are very rare, according to the CDC, and typically involves close unprotected contact with infected birds.

Diestel said the farm is now under heightened safety protocols to ensure no cross-contamination happens between flocks and facilities. She said the business will keep its enhanced safety and detection program through the end of this year and then hope to be “back to business as usual in 2023.”

Avian flu can spread quickly from wild birds to commercial flocks. This year the first reported commercial cases in California came from an outbreak at a Fresno County poultry farm in late August. Some 34,000 chickens were euthanized as part of the initial outbreak, and another about 82,000 chickens were destroyed since in the county.