It was at the end of a peak egg production period when Victorian poultry farmer Brad McAuliffe first discovered the virus that shut down his business in May 2024.

"We lost between 500,000 to 600,000 of our birds due to the virus … I think in revenue we went from $70-80 million down to $0 overnight," Mr McAuliffe said.

His farm in Meredith was one of seven in eastern Australia forced to lock down in the country's worst outbreak of avian influenza, the H7N3 strain.

There have been no notifications of the disease since March this year, and the federal government declared the H7 strain officially eradicated in June.

It took Mr McAuliffe more than 12 months to resume full production, but he is not convinced the virus has gone for good.

"The challenge that we are having with bird flu is a r

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