USDA declares Minnesota’s dairy farms bird flu free
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After four straight months of raw milk testing in Minnesota’s dairy farms without detecting the H5N1 avian influenza virus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated the state’s dairy herds as “unaffected” by the virus.
The USDA ordered nationwide testing after multiple states confirmed the virus was present in dairy cattle. Minnesota reported nine cases last year.
In response, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture tested raw milk batches every month since February.
“Every single time milk is picked up from a dairy farm, there’s a sample collected,” the director of the state’s ag department dairy and meat inspection division, Nicole Neeser, said. “Every day of every year, all the time.”
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Neeser’s team coordinated with industry labs to create a schedule of farms to collect samples from each week of the month.
Only one avian influenza case was confirmed in March and none since.
“The virus itself has been fairly quiet in Minnesota in this calendar year, which is really fantastic,” Neeser said. “However, we know from the history of the virus that it can come and go with the seasonality.”
She said avian influenza tends to be more present during the spring and autumn. Her team will continue to monitor the virus throughout the fall.
However, now that Minnesota has been designated as “unaffected” by H5N1, the state can now test every two months instead of monthly. But monitoring will continue until all 50 states are cleared.
“We’re really waiting on some of the other states as well to continue testing and see how things turn out this fall,” Neeser said.
