National Dairy Organization Encourages Dairy Biosecurity

Chris Galan with the National Milk Producers Federation says that bird flu is not new news. But what is new is that it is being found in dairy cattle.

“We've had bird flu in the US for a number of years, the fact that it's in dairy cattle, or a different species. That's what makes this an unusual situation. I think the good news is that everything we've seen so far indicates that even though wild birds have introduced this to a handful of herds, it's only about a dozen at this point. It doesn't seem to bother are in fact, most of the animals in those herds. Most of the animals come back after being ill that they return to feed consumption and milk production.”

National Milk is reminding and encouraging dairy operations. That biosecurity is paramount after finding bird flu and several U.S. states.

“We are going to have to step up our efforts to be biosecure, and in particular, look at birth control because it's not a mystery as to how this got introduced.”

Galen says that USDA cites the fact that the milk pasteurization process kills bugs like this and other bugs. Thus, it is safe for humans to drink the milk from the cattle that may have been infected with a bird flu. National Milk has a webpage dedicated to highly pathogenic avian influenza resources, including updated development and biosecurity tips.