04/11/2024

Threat of Bird Flu Changes How Dariy Farmers are Operating

Some are banning visitors and chopping down trees

Dairy farmers in the United States are raising their defenses to try to contain the spread of bird flu: banning visitors, cutting down trees to discourage wild birds from landing and disinfecting vehicles coming onto their land.

On Wednesday, North Carolina became the seventh state to report an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a dairy herd, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed infections in Ohio, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas.

While the first cases appear to have been introduced to herds in Texas and Kansas by wild birds, the USDA said transmission among cattle was also possible. Agricultural officials in Michigan and Ohio said infected herds in those states received cattle from Texas.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Reuters.