US: The Texas ranchers whose cattle survived the biggest wildfire in history now have cows sick with bird flu

Cow Milk

Meat

Published Mar 28, 2024

Tridge summary

In a surprising turn of events, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has identified a disease affecting about 40% of cattle herds in Texas's panhandle as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), marking the first instance of this bird flu variant in cattle. Despite the widespread infection, there's no current evidence to suggest cattle-to-cattle transmission, mitigating the need for culling. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has reassured the public that milk production won't be significantly impacted, as milk from infected cows is excluded from the food system and pasteurization eliminates any pathogens. The infection is believed to have spread from water sources contaminated by migratory birds, with expectations of improvement as the migratory season concludes.

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Original content

The Texas Department of Agriculture started getting widespread reports of an unidentified disease affecting around 40% of cattle herds in the state’s panhandle a little less than a month ago, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller tells Fortune. “We tested for everything—every disease known to infect cows,” Miller says. “They all came back negative.” But after weeks of uncertainty, U.S. Department of Agriculture testing revealed on March 25 that the disease was highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a form of bird flu that had never been detected in cattle before. HPAI is a much more common issue for poultry flocks, and the virus is so dangerous that infected birds have to be killed to stop it spreading. Between 2022 and 2023, almost 60 million chickens and turkeys were killed on American farms for HPAI prevention purposes. Authorities haven’t been requiring cattle ranchers to kill infected animals: Miller said that the cattle are “end hosts” and there’s no evidence that ...

Source: Fortune