OMAHA (DTN) — USDA will now pay dairy farmers for lost milk production if their herds have been infected with H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Starting Monday, July 1, producers who have confirmed infections in their herds can apply for lost milk production at the Farm Service Agency under the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP). The program will pay those dairy farmers up to 90% of milk-production losses for farms infected in the H5N1 outbreak
To be eligible for payment, producers will need to segregate sick cows for up to 134 days from the first signs of illness, according to USDA’s announcement of the aid.
The virus still affects just a small number of the nation’s overall dairy production, but the number of infected herds continues to grow. USDA now reports 132 dairy herds had been infected in the outbreak across 12 states. One-third of those herd outbreaks have been confirmed in just the past three weeks. On June 7, USDA reported 86 dairies had been infected.
“We’ve said throughout this process as we’ve dealt with H5N1 that we want to assist our dairy producers in every way we can to help them as they combat this emerging animal-health disease,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on a call with reporters. “When something unexpected, like H5N1, threatens the economic viability of the producers we serve, we are committed to finding ways, where we have the authority to do so, to revisit existing program policies and provide the financial support needed to allow producers to recover and sustain production.”
Officials in Iowa, which has seen at least 11 herds infected this month, also had requested USDA compensate dairy farmers for culled cows that do not recover from the virus. Vilsack said USDA right now is only paying for lost milk production.
“At this point of time, we are going to be focused obviously on producers that are able to establish a loss in production connected to the disease for a period of time,” Vilsack said, adding there is roughly a four-week period in which farmers see the most significant losses in milk production.
USDA does not report statistics on how many dairy cows have been culled from infected herds. “There are many reasons, obviously, for the decisions that farmers make in terms of culling dairy cows, so it is sometimes difficult to establish what is driving that decision,” Vilsack said.
Payment for production losses will equal 90% of the USDA all-milk price based on records showing losses in production.
To apply and receive payments, producers must show that their herds have confirmed positive tests through USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL).
In calculating the ELAP payments, the per-cow milk loss will be determined based on an expected 21-day period of no milk production when a cow is removed from the milking herd, followed by seven days when the cow has returned to milking but produces 50% of the normal amount of production, USDA stated.
The infected cows also must have been removed from commercial milk production at some point over a 14-day period before the sample was collected and keep those cattle segregated for 120 days after the sample collection date, USDA stated.
USDA’s press office did not immediately respond to questions from DTN about why dairies would be required to hold back their cows from milk production for as long as 120 days or whether farmers infected early in the outbreak would have known about such a policy requirement to receive payment.
Producers must also have financial risk in the cows for at least 60 days before the commercial loss in milk production.
USDA has stressed since the outbreak began that milk producers need to segregate lactating cows showing signs of sickness to avoid further spread throughout the herd and prevent milk from sick cows from going into commercial milk production.
“This is going to build on the efforts that we’ve made to ensure that we’re limiting the spread of the virus as it’s detected,” Vilsack said. “While dairy cows that have been impacted and affected with H5N1 generally recover in a few weeks and there’s little mortality associated with this disease, it does dramatically limit milk production.”
The secretary reiterated “just how critical enhanced biosecurity is” in limiting the spread of the virus. He said USDA knows from epidemiological studies that it is not just the movement of cows that spreads the virus.
“It’s also the movement of vehicles, people and equipment,” he said. “We need producers to continue to implement these biosecurity practices that we know are effective.”
In May USDA offered financial support to producers such as providing $1,500 to help create biosecurity plans and reimburse farmers for veterinary testing for H5N1. So far, 21 dairy herds in five states have enrolled in that program, including 12 herds in Michigan and five in Iowa.
USDA also set up a dairy herd pilot program to test cows before interstate movement. Farms in six states have enrolled, but just one herd in each state.
Meanwhile, states are also requiring more testing. As DTN reported, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will now test other dairy farms in a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) radius of a farm that tests positive for H5N1.
Iowa and other states also are requiring negative tests before dairy farmers participate in fairs or other exhibitions.
Also see “Iowa Tests Nearby Dairy Farms for H5N1” here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….
To apply for ELAP, producers should contact the FSA at their local USDA Service Center (https://www.fsa.usda.gov/…).
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DTN
