Federal Order Addresses Livestock Influenza

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) has issued a second federal order concerning Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in dairy cattle.  As background, HPAI is an influenza variant (type A) that has primarily affected the poultry industry.  In all poultry species, the virus is easily transmissible and leads to high levels of mortality in the infected flocks.  Similar to the flu virus that affects people each year, it can mutate and create a new strain which changes the species it can infect and its severity.  In March this year, a variant of HPAI was found in dairy cattle.  The cattle had originated in Texas and spread to several regions of the county from animals moved from this herd. The clinical signs in dairy cattle include reduced milk production; thicker, colostrum-like milk; decreased feed consumption; lethargy; dehydration; and fever.  Fortunately, the infected cows are able to recover with standard supportive care.

USDA has standard 5 level monitoring, eradication procedure

This new federal order outlines plans to eradicate the virus from the US dairy herd.  The USDA has a standard 5 level monitoring and disease eradication procedure.   For the initial implementation (Stage 1), the USDA will require testing of milk silos at processing facilities in nine different states to determine where the disease is present.  Ohio has not been included in this early roll out but will be included at a future date.  For Stage 2 of the program, dairy producers can voluntarily enroll in a bulk tank testing program to add to the virus presence database.

Stage 3 is when the virus is found in raw milk. This will require herd testing at all farms that contributed milk to the silo to identify the source herd(s).  Once the source herd(s) are identified, the USDA will partner with other state agencies to enact enhance biosecurity procedures at those facilities to prevent further spread of the disease.  The testing procedure is called Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) which is able to detect virus from 1 cow in a sample of over 100,000 cows.

Testing frequency will reduce as milk silos remain negative

As long as no virus is found in a state (Stage 4), USDA will continue regular voluntary bulk tank testing.  The testing frequency will gradually be reduced as long as milk silo testing remains negative.  If the virus reappears, the USDA will re-engage detection and response activities.  Once all states have reached Stage 4, the USDA will work with states to maintain a periodic testing program to demonstrate long-term absence of the virus from the national herd (Stage 5).

This new federal order does not replace the order issued in April of this year which requires all milk cows that are transported across state lines to be negative for the HPAI virus.  Furthermore, owners of herds in which a cow tests positive will be required to provide historical information on their herds to aid in virus traceability.

No risks to public health

For consumers of dairy products, there is no risk to public health through our milk supply.  Repeated laboratory testing has confirmed that any virus that may be present in raw milk is destroyed by the pasteurization process.  In addition, a significant portion of our ground beef supply is from dairy cattle.  Sampling of ground beef at grocery stores around the country found no trace of the virus.  Further research, where they intentionally inoculated ground beef with the H5N1 virus, found that when ground beef was cooked to 145 degrees (medium) or the recommended temperature of 165 degrees (well done) that no active virus was found.  Consumers can be confident that there is no public health risk from the virus through our food system.  If you would like to find more information on the federal orders or food safety facts, you can visit the USDA APHIS website at http://www.aphis.usda.gov

January agriculture programs scheduled

As we move into the new year, there is a full line-up of programs.  January 7^th is our 2025 Ag Outlook meeting.  We are thrilled to again have Dr. Chris Wolf from Cornell University as a part of the program.  He will be discussing the new federal milk marketing orders and what they mean for Wayne County dairy producers.  In addition, we will have Barry Ward providing an input cost outlook; Aaron Wilson with a 2025 weather outlook; Dr. Seungki Lee discussing the feed grain markets; and Clint Walenciak from Certified Angus Beef giving an overview of the retail beef market.    The program will be held at the Secrest Arboretum Welcome Center from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  The cost is $20 and lunch and refreshments will be provided. 

There will be two private pesticide and fertilizer applicator certification opportunities in January both in Holmes County.  The January 21^st program will be held at Mt. Hope Livestock Auction and January 30^th will be at the Harvest Ridge Event Center in Millersburg.  Our last January program will be January 29^th when we will host our commodity marketing school.  In addition to talks on completing your key financial documents and crop insurance options or 2025, we will host Dr. Ken Burdine from the University of Kentucky who will talk about beef cattle marketing and Dr. Carl Zulauf who will discuss post-harvest grain marketing strategies.  If you want to know more about our upcoming programs you can check out the events calendar on our webpage at http://wayne.osu.edu.   As always, I hope that you have a safe and prosperous week.  If you have any questions or would like to register for one of our programs, please contact me at 330-264-8722 or yost.77@osu.edu.