This week , the USDA is fete its annualBird Health Awareness Week(Oct . 30 , 2011 to Nov. 5 , 2011 ) and there ’s one veterinary surgeon who is getting out the Son about poultry health in a showstopping way .
Dr. Julie Helm , DVM , is South Carolina ’s “ Bioscurity Queen , ” and she like to dress the part . She assume a pageant - calibre silver grey tiara and a beauty - pageantry sash , but do n’t look for an even surgical gown or a fancy up - do to make out the beaut - king look . Her outfit consists of blue coveralls , a bouffant chapiter and boots .
In her fifteenth year as a poultry specialist veterinary surgeon with Clemson University , Helm covers herself from head to toe toprevent the spread of diseasewhen she confab farm . She jade the turnout in talking to halls to repulse home her level about keep back chickens , turkeys and other types of fowl sizable . A few yr ago , she add together the tiara and girdle to her attire , in a nod to her acquired nickname : “ Biosecurity Queen . ”
“ I think , get ’s literally just fit out it up and take it on the road , ” Dr. Helm says . “ Whatever the hearing , wherever the place , if I ’m utter biosecurity , I dress up . ”
As an employee at Clemson University ’s Livestock Poultry Health Program , Helm also coordinate the National Poultry Improvement Plan for South Carolina . Part of her job is performing poultry necropsies as part of disease investigating . ( CULPH serves as the state ’s brute - wellness authorization and veterinary symptomatic laboratory . ) Helm has make on an avian influenza response plan for the state and traveled around the Palmetto State doing what she call “ a route show and a fortune of talk ” about theavian influenza diseaseand how to nullify it after it became a ball-shaped problem in 2005 .
She tells poultry owners that by do biosecurity , they can protect theirchickensandturkeysagainst disease , including serious ones , such as avian influenza and exoticNewcastle disease . She offer simple steps that can be taken to keep shuttle sizable , such as cleaning shoes , tools and equipment to keep disease from circulate from coop to chicken coop or from farm to farm .
She get her share of unusual feeling , and she ’s been recognized while out at local stores — even without her costume — and her car sports a vanity license plate aver “ Biosecurity Queen ! ” Although she likes to have sport with her job , she takes her role seriously .
“ mass do look at me funny , but they will obviously recall me dress up in my tiara , puffy cap , sash and boots , ” Helm says . “ I ’m hop when they remember this wild , silly madam , they also remember how important biosecurity is in protecting their flocks . ”
Originally from Vancouver , Wash. , Helm did not produce up with chicken and had little desire to be a fowl veterinarian when she first studied at Oregon State University . A blackguard and cat lover , she planned to specialize in small animal medicine .
But after expend a few weeks interning with a dud veterinarian , she decided poultry was her calling .
“ [ The veterinary ] was in charge of overall poultry health , and he visited farm all the time and was always solving problems , place out piffling fires , ” Helm says .
Now her day are filled with “ putting out little flak ” of her own — from prove to enter out why ball product is down ( frequently it ’s the feed ) to diagnose disease in sick or dying chicken .
She has become the go - to person in her adopted state of South Carolina for all types of fowl questions and business .
“ I had a lady who called and require ‘ How old do crybaby live ? ’ ” Helm recalls . “ I said , ‘ A wimp survive out of doors in southern weather condition — anywhere from five to 10 days . ’ And she aver ‘ My hen is 23 old age erstwhile . ’ I said , ‘ Well you are the record ! ’ That hen must have had a very long , pampered life . ”
Helm lives on 35 - acre property in Elgin , S.C. , but while she has other darling , chicken are not among them . When she chitchat a poultry farm , she can not have been in contact with other domestic fowl from one to two days in advance , so she settle for her six dogs and six cats .
Unlike some of its neighboring state , South Carolina , which has about 800 commercial-grade domestic fowl farm and a growing number of backyard breeders , has never had a serious outbreak of disease among its fowl .
“ In South Carolina so far , we have been very favorable , ” she says . “ We have n’t had a serious poultry disease to deal with . Our neighbors have . Virginia and North Carolina both had a mild strain of avian influenza in 2002 , which seriously affected many poultry farms . That eruption convey about the growing of the current national avian influenza monitoring program and all the breeding we ’ve been doing and that the USDA has been doing . ”
So perhaps the tiara and sash are hold the encroachment she had hop for .
“ hoi polloi obviously remember me , and I ’m hoping they remember my substance : that biosecurity is very important for disease prevention and protect animals in agriculture , ” Helm suppose .
