Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)
On March 25, 2024, a mystery illness that had been impacting dairy herds in the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Kansas was officially diagnosed as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Also known as bird flu, the same strain has been affecting the U.S. poultry flock for the past two years. The Dairy Herd team is tracking the HPAI cases to keep you aware of any changes while providing information you can use to elevate your knowledge and what the evolving dynamics could mean to your operation.
Officials have confirmed the first case of highly pathogenic avian flu in a Wisconsin dairy herd.
A new report details the need for more ag funding to address existing weeds, insects and diseases as well as agronomic problems that have yet to reach U.S. shores.
“We typically don’t see avian influenza until January or February,” says Rebecca Eifert Joniskan, president of the Indiana State Poultry Association. “This year we started October 9.”
Megin Nichols, the CDC’s director in the division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases, explains the ties between human, animal and environmental health.
Since Brazil confirmed the country’s first HPAI outbreak, others like China and now the European Union have suspended poultry imports.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the agency is hyper-focused on poultry, but no vaccine is yet available. The agency has ‘separate work streams’ to address the virus in the ‘cattle and dairy’ industries, but dairy is not part of USDA’s primary focus for now.
The poultry industry is one of the biggest demand drivers for corn and soybean meal, but HPAI is eating into sales.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins confirms those payments will be released before the March 21 current deadline in an exclusive interview with Farm Journal on Thursday morning. She also outlined the timing of the $1 billion just announced to combat avian flu.