The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship on Jan. 1 will lift a ban on live bird exhibitions at county fairs, the Iowa State Fair, livestock auction markets, swap meets and exotic sales that was instituted on May 21 due to an outbreak of bird flu. “This is very good news and another sign that we continue to recover from this devastating animal health emergency.  We know the ban on exhibitions caused some real challenges for those anticipating showing or selling birds, but we appreciate everyone cooperating as we worked to stop the disease and then allow the industry to recover,” said Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey. Iowa now is considered free of bird flu. Read the full news release.