Bird Flu in Dairy Cattle

[BurbMum]

Someone asked how it might be migrating herd to herd above and I thought of the image below.

>70% of all herds in California have now been infected.

https://t.co/gGywFJBFnO

 

[Perris]

The most obvious source is poultry waste in cows' feed. Compare the spread of H5N1 to cats:
"All recent detections of H5N1 [bird flu] in cats had these things in common: the infected cats ate wild birds, unpasteurized milk, raw poultry, and/or raw poultry pet food," a Food and Drug Administration spokesperson told CBS News.
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-bird-flu-million-chickens-egg.html

 

[NewcoopNewpoop]

Birds and their droppings can carry over 60 diseases

This link above is a quick reference. You can find more info on each by a google search. A family member of one of my mother's friends had kept pigeons for years, and then came down with a lung ailment one day (which he ultimately died from). They determined it came from inhaling the dried pigeon droppings (he never wore a mask). That was how I learned about this issue.

Histoplasmosis is the most concerning: Histoplasmosis - Mayo Clinic

"Histoplasmosis is caused by the reproductive cells (spores) of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. They float into the air when dirt or other material is disturbed.

The fungus thrives in damp soil that's rich in organic material, especially the droppings from birds and bats. It's particularly common in chicken and pigeon coops, old barns, caves, and parks."

One of my friends died from this as well. He didnt keep chickens but had a massive swift population overtake his barn.

 

[Seaslug]

The most obvious source is poultry waste in cows' feed.

The most alarming thing that I heard was on NPR the other day -- that the dairy farmers are having to dump the milk of their infected cows, often into manure ponds, where birds often gather to drink. This could lead to bird reinfection and virus mutation. Not cool.

 

[Bawkbok]

Oh my, this is all going from bad to worse.
Next we'll be reading about the culling of huge bovine herds. It's all so sad

 

[My15Ducks]

Oh my, this is all going from bad to worse.
Next we'll be reading about the culling of huge bovine herds. It's all so sad

I’m optimistic that they won’t cull cows. Cows only get mildly sick, and you can’t easily replace a cow. I think dairy farmers would strongly oppose mass culling

 

[NewcoopNewpoop]

It would be interesting to see if drinking an infected cows pasturized milk creates antibodies much like vaccinating people with a dead virus does.
Probably not but it would be crazy if it did!

 

[My15Ducks]

It would be interesting to see if drinking an infected cows pasturized milk creates antibodies much like vaccinating people with a dead virus does.
Probably not but it would be crazy if it did!

It would also be interesting if drinking raw milk from a cow who has recovered from bird flu would give any protection from the antibodies.