Cows on several dairy farms in southern states recently became infected with avian influenza, according to state and federal agriculture officials.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this is the first confirmed case of avian influenza in cattle in the United States, which is easily transmitted between birds and is often fatal to poultry, but less fatal to cattle. That’s what it means.
The department has identified infected cows in four dairy herds in Kansas and Texas, and testing of other herds is pending. Dairy cows in New Mexico are also showing symptoms of the disease.
The virus is often transmitted to animals from infected wild birds during spring and fall migration in the Midwest. The potential threat to Iowa’s cattle is not yet clear.
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions,” said Don McDowell, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Management.
The clusters of cases in southwestern Kansas and the Texas panhandle are located on the Central Flyway, a major migration route from west of Iowa through Nebraska and South Dakota.
“That doesn’t mean we’re letting our guard down,” said John Maxwell, a dairy farmer near Davenport, Iowa. “There are a lot of unknowns.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says birds are known to occasionally wander into Iowa from that flyway.
There are approximately 850 dairy farms in Iowa, ranging in size from 25 to 10,000 cows. A typical farm has about 250 cows.
‘Mysterious’ disease in cattle
For weeks, cows in Texas had fevers, lost their appetites, produced less milk and had dark discoloration.
“A mysterious disease is spreading across the Texas Panhandle and confounding the agricultural industry,” state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said this week.
On Monday, tests on milk taken from sick cows confirmed that they were infected with avian influenza. Those affected were older animals, typically making up about 10% of the herd, the USDA reported. Infected cattle did not die and usually recovered from the disease.
Milk from sick animals is being discarded, and Miller’s office said the most affected herds saw a drop in milk production of about 40% in about a week.
Initial analysis by USDA labs detected no genetic changes that would make the virus more easily transmitted between mammals. This means that infected cows are unlikely to infect other cows or humans.
Maxwell, director of the American Jersey Cattle Association, said the suspected source of the infection was feed contaminated by wild birds. Infected birds can plunder outdoor food and poop on it in the process.
This virus is best known in recent years for its impact on chicken and turkey producers. If infected birds are involved, entire flocks, sometimes numbering in the millions, are culled to prevent the spread of the virus.
However, it is widely documented that the disease can also be transmitted to mammals. The USDA has compiled a list of more than 200 mammals infected with bird flu in the past two years in the United States.
The list includes foxes and opossums in Iowa, but in other states, infected mammals range from squirrels to dolphins to grizzly bears.
Minnesota announced last week that at least one baby goat had died from avian influenza on a farm where poultry was infected in February. This was the first known case of livestock in the United States being infected with the virus.
“This finding is important because spring migration is arguably the time of greatest infection risk for poultry, but it’s important to note that spring migration is certainly the time of greatest infection risk for poultry, but it’s important to note that spring migration is a time of greatest infection risk for poultry, but it’s important to note that spring migration is the time of greatest infection risk for poultry, but “This highlights the possibility that the virus could be transmitted to other animals.”
Virus activity is currently low
In Iowa’s neighboring states, the virus has been detected in three livestock flocks in the past month, including two in a backyard flock in Minnesota and one in a commercial turkey flock in South Dakota. . The last time it was detected in Iowa was in a backyard herd in Mahaska County in mid-December, according to USDA data.
The last major spring outbreak of bird flu in Iowa It was 2022, when detections in domestic flocks began in early March, and total deaths in the state that year were about 16 million birds. That doesn’t mean the state will avoid infections this year. The 2015 outbreak began in mid-April. The number of deaths that year was approximately 33 million birds.
This month, a dead crow in northeastern Iowa was found to be infected.
“That’s a concern,” Maxwell said. “I don’t think this is something we need to do anything radical, but we certainly need to take every precaution.”
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said he is awaiting further information regarding dairy cattle infections in southern states and to promptly report any cattle illnesses to the Department of Agriculture and Land Management by calling (515) 281-5305. We are calling on the public to report.
“Protecting Iowa’s livestock farmers from invasive animal diseases has been and continues to be one of my top priorities as Secretary,” said Naig.
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