USDA offers 90% compensation for bird flu losses in dairy herds

The government will compensate farmers for 90% of the value of milk lost as a result of H5N1 avian flu infections in their dairy cows, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. “We want to assist our producers every way we can to help them as they combat this emerging animal health disease,” he said.

In the three months since scientists confirmed the first appearance of the H5N1 virus in dairy cattle in Texas, bird flu has been identified in 132 dairy herds in 12 states, from Idaho to North Carolina. Three workers on dairy farms have contracted mild cases of bird flu from infected cows.

Dairy farmers can apply for payments through the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP) beginning on Monday, the same day the USDA will publish the regulation allowing the aid, said the USDA. Payments would be calculated at 90% of the value of reduced milk production per cow for 28 days; the all-milk price, a U.S. average issued monthly, will be the milk price used by the USDA.

Bird flu typically appears in older lactating cows, with symptoms that include fever, loss of appetite, and sharply reduced milk output. Cows generally recover after a couple of weeks. USDA scientists say that about 10% of cows become ill when a herd is infected. Culling and mortality run at around 2%.

Vilsack demurred when he was asked if farmers should be reimbursed for culled cows. It is difficult to fully know why a cow was being sent to slaughter, he said. “I think we are stepping up in a way that is most helpful” with the payments for reduced milk production.

The payments would be the latest in an array of financial assistance offered by the USDA to combat the H5N1 virus. Up to $28,000 is available over three months for farmers with infected herds to improve their biosecurity systems, acquire protective equipment for workers, and pay bills for veterinary treatment and testing of cows. Farms free of the disease are eligible for up to $1,500 to improve their biosecurity standards and up to $2,000 to cover the cost of testing cows for the virus.

Two additional states, Ohio and North Carolina, have joined Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Texas in a pilot program for voluntary weekly testing of milk from bulk coolers for the H5N1 virus, said Vilsack. Participating farms that have tested negative for three weeks are exempt from a USDA requirement to test cattle for the bird flu virus before shipping them across state lines.

The USDA’s goal is to “isolate and burn out this disease” by preventing its spread, said Vilsack.

ELAP was created in 2008 to cover losses to livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish from disease and adverse weather. There is no limit on payments to a producer, but eligibility is restricted to those whose adjusted gross income is less than $900,000 year, according to an ELAP fact sheet.

Bird flu outbreaks soared among domestic flocks this spring, killing 8.8 million birds in April and 5.9 million in May. Only 460,000 birds have died this month, said a USDA database. Since the H5N1 virus appeared in February 2022, 97.2 million birds in domestic flocks, mostly egg-laying hens and turkeys being raised for meat, have died of the virus or in cullings of flocks to prevent the virus from spreading.