USDA Mandates bbb Bird Flue Tests of Cows before transport

 

After COVid do we trust the test regime?  This all looks like a planned staged scenario to make so called bird flue the next big bad thing.

It is also setting out to fully disrupt the dairy industry and impose controls on raw milk.  not good.

We have already seen unusual agricultural disruption and actual destruction of facilities.  none of this is 

accidental.  It all looks like a long plan of social disruption and food manipulation as well.

USDA MANDATES BIRD FLU TESTS OF DAIRY COWS BEFORE TRANSPORT

“This is an evolving situation,” said Vilsack during a teleconference. “Emergence of this virus poses a bit of a new risk.”

By

Chuck Abbott

Published on April 25, 2024

https://www.agriculture.com/usda-mandates-bird-flu-tests-of-dairy-cows-before-transport-8638789?

Dairy farmers will be required to test their cattle for the H5N1 bird flu virus before shipping them across state lines, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Wednesday as the government tries to prevent the spread of the disease and learn more about how it is transmitted. The virus, a lethal threat to poultry, has moved from cow to cow, herd to herd, and cow to poultry, and has appeared in cows with no symptoms.

“This is an evolving situation,” said Vilsack during a teleconference. “Emergence of this virus poses a bit of a new risk.”

Bird flu was confirmed in dairy cattle for the first time in late March, following reports of a mysterious disease circulating in dairy cattle in the Texas Panhandle. Some scientists say the virus might have escaped detection in cattle for months, so the scope of the disease is unclear.

The FDA said on Tuesday 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. “Some asymptomatic cows were milked,” said Vilsack when asked how virus particles got into commercial milk channels. He said he was confident that milk was safe; he underscored the point by putting cream in his coffee and eating a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch on Wednesday.

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. The animals usually recover within two weeks. Milk from infected cows tends to be discolored and thicker than usual.

Testing will become mandatory on Monday, 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. Until now, the USDA had advised farmers to test dairy cattle before shipment but did not require it.

In addition, 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.

In addition, 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 [highly pathogenic avian influenza] H5N1 virus genotype detected in dairy cattle.” And USDA scientists have found bird flu in a lung sample for an asymptomatic dairy cow that had been sent to a slaughter plant.

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.