Athens, GA |

With nearly a hundred dairy operations around Georgia, responsible for two hundred and thirty-five million gallons of milk every year, it’s an important industry for the state’s economy. While rising input costs and low commodity prices are always a concern for producers, the recent detection of avian influenza within a few herds across nine different states has also caught their attention.

“This disease is obviously concerning. It’s relatively new to the dairy industry. We’re not entirely sure how it’s going to affect cattle moving forward. Overall, it will cause a little bit of loss in milk production for herds. We do see cattle that become clinically ill from this disease, but they tend to recover very quickly. So, the milk production will come back. We don’t see a significant amount of death loss, but it seems to be just an infection that comes in, affects a group of animals, and then tends to move out,” says Brad Heins, an Associate Professor with UGA Food Animal Medicine.

So, while it appears this disease provides no long term affect to the herd, it is something producers should have on their radar considering just how difficult it is to control.

“It is a disease that’s going to move. One of the ways that we’ve identified it as spreading it through wild foul. So, obviously those birds move from farm to farm. They’re chasing water supplies and feed ingredients. So, it is a disease that we’re going to continue to monitor and move, but we may not have a lot of control over it. Another way it’s moved is through cattle transportation. So, cattle that move from farm to farm have a risk of spreading this disease with them,” says Heins.

For thar reason, USDA has imposed more testing protocols, as each cow must now be tested by a certified and licensed Georgia veterinarian before being transported. It’s an additional, but necessary step to ensure both food safety and containment.

“Regulatory testing has added some additional guidelines for producers before they start to move cattle across state lines. So, it is some extra work they have to do. It is some homework on the part of the veterinarian as well as the farm, but a lot of dairy producers when they do move cattle, they have to do some regulatory testing anyways. So, it’s one more step they have to do, but it’s all designed to ensure a safe, healthy, and wholesome herd and food supply,” says Heins.

With that food safety being the top priority, FDA recently confirmed that pasteurization of milk consistent with the federal Grade “A” PMO kills any harmful pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms, including the highly pathogenic avian influenza. However, it could create a decrease in production, which is why there is one major symptom producers should be on the lookout for.

“The most common thing that we see with this new high path avian influenza in cattle is a loss in milk production. So, what we’re seeing is a thicker milk supply from that cow. She’s still producing some milk, but it almost has the consistency of colostrum or the early milk production she as after she has a calf,” says Heins.

By: Damon Jones