Colorado is the first state in the nation to require dairy farmers to submit a weekly sample of milk to be tested for the H5N1 avian flu virus — “the best next step” to protect its poultry and dairy industries from bird flu, said Maggie Baldwin, the state veterinarian. “We have been navigating this challenging, novel outbreak of HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza] in dairy operations for nearly three months in Colorado and have not been able to curb the spread of disease at this point.”
More than a quarter of the 170 dairy herds that have been infected with the H5N1 virus nationwide are in Colorado, or 48 herds. The Colorado Agriculture Department said the state was experiencing “spillover” of the virus from dairy farms to poultry flocks. A presumed spillover hit two egg farms with a combined 3.2 million hens this month, causing half of the state’s poultry losses to bird flu since early 2022.
Baldwin said the dairy and poultry industries supported the order for weekly testing of samples from bulk storage tanks on dairy farms. The state Agriculture Department issued the order for weekly tests on Monday. “This action will help identify any additional infected dairies with the virus with the goal of preventing further spread of the disease,” it said.
Nine farmworkers in Colorado, employed on dairy and egg farms, have been diagnosed with mild cases of bird flu — eight of them this spring and summer and one in 2022. Three farmworkers in Michigan and Texas have contracted bird flu from dairy cattle since April.