Cows have tested positive in the Panhandle of Texas area known as Cattle Country, agriculture officials confirmed on Monday.
It comes a week after goats in Minnesota tested positive for bird flu—believed to be the first time the virus has been found in livestock. Two dairy farms in Kansas have also been hit with bird flu outbreaks, found in samples of milk from sick cattle.
The infected animals, believed to be about 10 percent of affected herds, have had to be divided from the healthy ones, with their milk collected separately so it does not enter the food supply chain.
“While troubling, this outbreak is not currently expected to threaten our nation’s commercial dairy supply,” Commissioner at the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) Sid Miller said, according to AP.
Similarly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a statement: “At this stage, there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health.”
Getty
Dairy farms are legally required to only supply milk from healthy animals and, on top of this, the pasteurization process helps kill viruses and bacteria.
Experts have found that livestock are expected to recover from bird flu on their own within seven to 10 days, according to the Texas Farm Bureau’s Gary Joiner.
This is different from bird flu outbreaks in poultry, which usually require killing entire flocks.
Although officials are not worried about this contaminated milk entering the supply, there is currently an investigation being carried out by the USDA, TDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC).
Extra safety measures have also been put in place, with some farmers limiting the people allowed to come onto their properties to just staff.
On top of this, they are “making sure buckets and feed that could be accessible to wild birds are clean and making sure animals are not coming in contact with wild birds”, Joiner said.
Texan farmers first became concerned around three weeks ago, when cattle started falling ill, becoming lethargic and losing their appetites.
“We hadn’t seen anything like it before—it was kind of like they had a cold,” Miller said.
Bird flu, officially called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, is known to infect birds and occasionally humans.
Food animal veterinarian at the University of California-Davis Western Institute for Food Safety and Security Michael Payne pointed out that bird flu has previously been reported in 48 different mammal species.
“It was probably only a matter of time before avian influenza made its way to ruminants,” he said.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.