Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that dairy farmers will be required to test their cattle for the H5N1 bird flu virus before shipping them across state linesin order to prevent the spread of the disease and learn more about how it is transmitted.
Testing became mandatory on April 29, with lactating dairy cows as the initial focus, said the USDA’s animal health agency. The USDA will pay the cost of the tests, and results may take a week. If cattle test positive for the bird flu virus, owners must wait 30 days and test the cattle again.
Bird flu was confirmed in dairy cattle for the first time in late March in dairy cattle in the Texas Panhandle.
The FDA said that bird flu virus had been detected in grocery store milk, but it said the milk supply is safe to drink because pasteurization kills heat-sensitive viruses, such as H5N1, according to Vilsack.
While bird flu can quickly wipe out a flock of chickens or turkeys, among dairy cows, it is milder, causing a loss of appetite, reduced milk production, lethargy, and fever, often among older cows that generally recover within two weeks.
Until now, the USDA had advised farmers to test dairy cattle before shipment but did not require it.
Laboratories and state veterinarians will be required to report to the USDA when testing identifies an infected herd.
To date, the USDA has confirmed bird flu in 33 herds in eight states: Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. Additionally, it has confirmed that eight poultry facilities in five states — Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Texas, have also been infected with the same HPAI Outbreaks of HPAI in domestic U.S. flocks began in early February 2022. Nearly 91 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens and turkeys being raised for meat, have died of bird flu or have been culled in efforts to isolate the virus.