Michigan farmers are responding to the new Avian Flu “Extraordinary Emergency” order from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
New safety guidelines must be in place by Wednesday that affect all dairy and poultry operations in the state. The guidelines include the designation of a biosecurity manager, establishing a perimeter that limits access to livestock, and implementing cleaning and disinfection procedures at those access points.
State of Michigan Chief Medical Executive Natasha Bagdasarian says the most severe cases of the bird flu seem to be in poultry.
“Poultry don’t recover well from this virus,” Bagdasarian said. “This is a highly pathogenic virus in poultry and the dairy cows do tend to recover even though their milk production is slowed down.”
M-DARD first detected Avian Flu in Michigan dairy cattle on March 29 of this year. The disease has since been detected in more dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks in seven counties.
