DES MOINES, Iowa (KTIV) – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have confirmed a case of bird flu in a herd of dairy cattle in Sioux County, Iowa.
Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig is now making several requests to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to aid affected dairy and poultry farmers as well as to assist in disease research and response. This is the second known case of a dairy herd having bird flu in it, the first was reported in O’Brien County a few days ago.
“Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza continues to pose a significant threat to our livestock and the livelihoods of the farmers that care for them. To better prepare and respond to this challenge, the Department is taking additional response measures and is making additional resource requests of USDA in order to support this ongoing and collaborative effort,” said Secretary Naig. “Our team remains in daily communication with USDA, other states, farm organizations and industry stakeholders and we will be continually evaluating our response steps as new information arises. This is going to take the entire agricultural community working together because we all have a stake in protecting the herds and flocks of Iowa.”
Secretary Naig is requesting the Department of Agriculture’s assistance to support impacted poultry and dairy farmers while enhancing state response efforts.
The Secretary’s request efforts include:
For farmers:
Provide compensation for culling dairy cattle at fair market value.Provide compensation for lost milk production at a minimum of 90 percent of fair market value.Revise poultry indemnity tables to better reflect the fair market value of the impacted birds and/or eggs.Present a streamlined and timely process for farmers to be compensated for lost production and to receive indemnity.
For state response efforts:
Authorize additional epidemiological strike teams to assist with both poultry and dairy in Iowa.Provide additional USDA Wildlife Services personnel to assist in the surveying of disease in wildlife around Iowa poultry and dairy facilities.Accelerate funding for research to strengthen and enhance producer mitigation strategies.
The agriculture officials will be updating its testing practices to include the testing of dairy farms around infected poultry sites. As a long-standing protocol for poultry, officials say this will help provide a better understanding of bird flu and allow the department to improve its response.
Heightened biosecurity measures and additional requirements
Authorities say the ag department continues to strongly recommend dairy farmers and poultry producers to include biosecurity protocols on their farms. With the fast approach of exhibition season, the Department is now considering additional exhibition requirements for participants.
Iowa poultry producers and dairy farmers are encouraged to improve their biosecurity practices to protect their own flocks and herds.
According to the USDA. “The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has biosecurity recommendations for dairy herds to utilize. In addition, the Department has numerous other biosecurity resources for poultry producers and livestock farms to reference on its website.”
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship says farmers who regularly interact with dairy and poultry as well as with other farmers in the industry, should take extra precautions to limit possible transmissions.
Although there have been confirmed cases of bird flu, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) believes the threat to public safety remains low in Iowa since there are no confirmed human cases.
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