Weekly livestock news: April 22, 2024

Domestic—not migratory—birds appear to have spread avian flu in dairy herds: USDA

Domestic birds that live in and around barns have been confirmed as hosts of an avian flu outbreak in U.S. dairy herds, the USDA confirmed. These outbreaks have commonly been spread by migratory birds, but according to the April 16 update from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the avian host in this case was pigeons, grackles and blackbirds. Biosecurity measures for dairy farms could change depending on the types of avian species that cause the infection, Farmtario reports.

USDA to producers: Test herds for avian flu before moving cattle

Avian flu has been confirmed in 29 dairy herds in eight states, from Idaho to North Carolina. Texas has 11 infected herds, followed by New Mexico with six and Michigan with five. Now the USDA has recommended farmers test their herds for the H5N1 bird flu virus before moving cattle between states, Successful Farming reports. “We are strongly recommending testing before herds are moved between states, which should give us more testing information and should mitigate further state-to-state spread between herds,” the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced. A mandatory testing program for the 26,000 U.S. dairy herds would not be practical or feasible, said APHIS. “Right now, we are seeing that a small portion of the affected herds are becoming ill and that the number of herds exhibiting symptoms is relatively small.”

Colorado’s reintroduced wolves allegedly kill 4 more cattle

Wolves in recent weeks have apparently killed four cattle in Grand County, Colorado, marking the largest cluster of livestock losses since the state reintroduced the species in the area last December, Colorado Public Radio reports. Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the attacks in a statement and a spokesperson said the predators likely came from a group of wolves released by the agency in December as part of a voter-approved reintroduction plan. The attack comes weeks after the first confirmed cattle death linked to the reintroduced wolves. Colorado plans to release 30 to 50 wolves over the next five years, allowing farmers and ranchers to apply for up to $15,000 in reimbursement for livestock or guard and herding animals killed or injured by wolves.

Bipartisan support will be necessary for farm bill to pass, Vilsack says

Most Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee support “pretty radical” farm bill proposals at a time when only a bipartisan bill is sure of enactment, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “It just underscores the difficulty of getting to a farm bill” when control of Congress is almost evenly divided, he said. The proposals include shutting off crop subsidies to farmers with more than $500,000 a year in adjusted gross income, requiring growers to pay a larger share of the premium for subsidized crop insurance and ending enrollment in the two largest USDA land stewardship programs: the Conservation Reserve and the Conservation Stewardship Program. A bipartisan majority will be needed for the farm bill because Republicans are unlikely to pass the legislation on their own, Vilsack said. Successful Farming reports.

USDA offers online livestock disaster guidance tools

The USDA has launched a new, online Livestock Indemnity Program Decision Tool and farm loan resources. These tools are intended for agricultural producers and cooperators who help producers access USDA disaster assistance, farm loans and other federal farm programs, according to the announcement. They were developed in partnership with FarmRaise and the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. The decision tool gives producers guidance on items necessary to gather and submit required loss documentation, reducing the amount of time needed to complete applications and enabling FSA county office staff to deliver assistance faster, the announcement said.

China pork output marks first quarterly decline in 4 years

Meat sales in China last quarter—the peak season due to Lunar New Year holidays—were sluggish as China struggles to mount a strong post-COVID economic bounce, Reuters reports. The country’s pork output eased in January-March from a year earlier as farmers slaughtered fewer pigs to support a recovery in hog prices. Pork output fell 0.4% from a year ago to 15.83 million tons, the first quarterly drop since the second quarter of 2020, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Some 194.6 million hogs were slaughtered, a decrease of 2.2%. China, which consumes about half the world’s pork, has encouraged companies to reduce hog numbers. It has also lowered this year’s national target for normal retention of breeding sows to 39 million from 41 million.