The Moos Room™

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;42;01
Brad
This episode of The Newsroom was recorded to help discuss with you about the raw milk testing update with H5n1. As we all know, it's a changing situation every day and things have slowed down a little bit. So we were going to talk about the raw milk testing update, but while we had all hoped that things would be rolled out for testing in February, this week, at least in Minnesota and other states, the Minnesota Department of AG is still working on finalizing funding agreements with the federal government, so they do not have the agreements finalized.

00;00;42;05 - 00;01;06;16
Brad
Therefore, the testing will not begin here in Minnesota in February, at least at the beginning. And it's on hold. But we wanted to provide these details just in case. It could start at any moment.

00;01;06;18 - 00;01;36;17
Emily
And welcome everybody to the newsroom. Emily and Bradley here today. Together again. No guests, this week, but we have, you know, a topic that we were covering very heavily on the podcast for a while, and then, you know, we we kind of resumed to our regular programing for a while, but there has been some some big updates on H5n1, in dairy cattle specifically.

00;01;36;17 - 00;01;58;27
Emily
So we are going to talk a little bit about that. There was recently a webinar put on by the state of Minnesota about some of these updates. Bradley attended that. So he is kind of our all knowing entity today. But we do also want to kind of caution you guys or let you guys know there's a lot we're not going to discuss today.

00;01;58;27 - 00;02;25;02
Emily
So there may be specific things you're hoping to hear that we're not getting to. And that is because we will be covering additional things in future episodes as well. We're working on lining up, a couple guests on this topic. And so just know that there will be more forthcoming to really further dissect some of these announcements and requirements that are coming out from the state of Minnesota.

00;02;25;08 - 00;02;54;18
Emily
So again, what we're discussing today will be pretty specific to the state of Minnesota. But there will be some good information, even if you're not located in Minnesota, just about testing and about, what's happening with H5n1 in dairy cattle. So again, there's a lot to get to. We won't get to all of it. But stay tuned as as we cover more of the, different nuances of this ever evolving situation.

00;02;54;21 - 00;03;00;27
Emily
So, Bradley, what what's the big takeaway here? What's like the big thing we need to know?

00;03;01;03 - 00;03;30;00
Brad
Well, I think it's really it deals with milk testing. You know, the USDA has started milk testing in certain states. And actually Minnesota is going to start on February 1st. So by the time this episode comes out, we will have started the first few days of testing. But I think we wanted to talk a little bit about what testing is and how that's going to happen and what might happen.

00;03;30;02 - 00;03;51;23
Brad
I think there's a lot of angst about that in the dairy world, and people don't really know. And we don't really know what's happening. But basically, this webinar last week provided a lot of blueprints for what's going to happen in in Minnesota. I think one of the big things, if I go off on a tangent quick, I actually I've canceled the trip to California.

00;03;51;23 - 00;04;18;29
Brad
I was really excited to go to California in February and see cows and be on dairies, but we talking with some of the farmers and veterinarians out there, we, they really don't want people on farm that are not really essential to to those dairies. If you don't know, H5n1 is still ravaging the California dairy industry. It is everywhere.

00;04;18;29 - 00;04;46;10
Brad
There are new cases all the time. At one time, I heard over 50% of the herds in California had it. So it is quite, still, still a big issue in California, even though we haven't had a case here in, in Minnesota since July. There are other states where it is still a big issue and it's, tough to control this.

00;04;46;10 - 00;04;53;12
Brad
So it's it's we may not see that here in the Midwest right now, but we may you never know.

00;04;53;14 - 00;05;17;03
Emily
Right. And there's a lot of considerations for that. And of course, it's it's winter here right now too. Right. And there's probably less movement of animals. But you know, this testing, like Brad said, you know, it's coming to Minnesota. It's already happening in a lot of other states. Right. And and one of the reasons, one of the many reasons for this is, you know, think about not just the cows, but the milk itself.

00;05;17;03 - 00;05;47;24
Emily
Right? There is milk that moves out of Minnesota. There is milk that moves into Minnesota. Right. And so although in our state, we haven't had a positive herd since July, right. We are still at risk. That doesn't mean, oh, we're free and clear, right. And most of us probably know that. So that's why, you know, adding this testing is, is happening because they want to, you know, figure out how do we keep it off the farms that don't have it, but also how does it move?

00;05;47;24 - 00;06;04;24
Emily
You know, just helping us get a better understanding of of what this is. Right. We are, we are probably up at the beginning of this, right? Not the end. So. So that's part of what testing helps us do too, is just learn more about what we're dealing with.

00;06;04;29 - 00;06;36;18
Brad
And I should say that. So the USDA is working with each state to develop a plan. So what happens in Minnesota is not the same in Wisconsin is not the same in California, not the same in Texas. So every state is going to be different because each state has different infrastructure, resources, number of herds, etc.. So just because we talk about what is going to happen today doesn't mean that that applies to a different state.

00;06;36;18 - 00;07;05;11
Brad
So you should really check with your state veterinarians or Board of Animal Health. We're going to discuss what we know in Minnesota. But it's probably a good blueprint. And they've looked at what other states are doing as well. So right now there's 36 states that have signed on to the national testing program. So not all of them. But there are an interesting note about a little bit of Minnesota dairy by the numbers, if you don't really know.

00;07;05;11 - 00;07;33;19
Brad
So it kind of comes down to this as well. So most of the cows in Minnesota are actually located in about four counties Stearns County, Benton County, Wabasha County and Winona County. So we have central Minnesota pocket. And then there's a southeast Minnesota pocket, where most of the cows are. There are 1625 dairies permitted in Minnesota as of January 1st.

00;07;33;22 - 00;07;57;16
Brad
So that's lots of other things. That's an alarming number that there are that few of dairies left in Minnesota. I think when I started here in Morris 15 years ago, there was well over 6 to 7000 dairies in Minnesota. So the numbers have gone down a lot. It's sad to see that, but it is a reality. And in many states as well, there's a lot of milk haulers.

00;07;57;18 - 00;08;27;16
Brad
So there's over 850 licensed, milk haulers and samplers in Minnesota. So that comes into play when we're talking about milk sampling. There's 30 certified labs. That process these farm samples for milk, fat, protein, bacteria, all of that. And there's really four main labs that test a lot of the quality stuff. And if you go Outstate. So that's kind of the the numbers in Minnesota.

00;08;27;16 - 00;08;55;17
Brad
What's happening. So collection so how is this going to happen. So every the goal is to have every herd sampled once a month in Minnesota. So all 1625 herds will be sampled once a month to test for H5n1. So it's going to be the same way. So a milk hauler will collect the sample on farm from the bulk tank or milk silo, you name it.

00;08;55;24 - 00;09;27;11
Brad
The obviously they put them on ice. You drive to the processing plant, the milk tanker is received there. They go to the screening lab. Obviously it's still tested for antibiotics. We that is one thing. So that's going to continue to happen. But after that they're going to sample each milk sample into basically a tube that's going to go to the Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Lab.

00;09;27;13 - 00;09;50;08
Brad
And that's where all of the testing is going to happen. So what does that look like? And maybe we'll go back to some specifics a little bit. But so they're going to be tested at the diagnostic lab in in Saint Paul Minnesota. Everything is going to be trace. So you're not going to have to worry that it's the neighbor's milk or somebody else's.

00;09;50;15 - 00;10;02;12
Brad
The goal is to have mass next day testing or within 72 hours of arrival at the diagnostic lab. So that's what's going to happen okay.

00;10;02;12 - 00;10;27;09
Emily
So we're going to have this sampling happening right. But the milk moves and is stored in a lot of different ways. So so how can we make sure we're getting these samples. Like are there different options of how it's done? Or you know like you mentioned farms, but are they also going to be testing milk at plants? You know, just just kind of wondering how this really looks in practice.

00;10;27;16 - 00;10;56;22
Brad
Yes. They could easily sample the tanker loads on at the processing plant as well. So you could determine you could sample the tanker load. And if it comes back positive, then you could go back and look at what farms contributed to that tanker load. Because obviously there's not very many farms that are single loads into a plant. There are quite a number of those in Minnesota, but there are still a lot of pooled milk from tankers.

00;10;56;24 - 00;11;29;06
Brad
They can also test a lot of those milk silos as well to determine if it's positive or not. But I still think the goal is to test every farm once a month, whether they're from a pooled tanker or not, or even if the tanker is negative for multiple times. The goal is to still test each herd once a month, and the goal is to have at least four months of consecutive testing.

00;11;29;06 - 00;12;01;28
Brad
So if we start in February, we're going to test February, March, April and May. If there are no positives found, they will ramp down the testing to less frequent throughout. So obviously it's not indefinite that we're going to test every herd once a month. But if we're good, we haven't really found any positive cases. The testing will be less frequent now that could change if all of a sudden we get cases in Minnesota and the number starts ramping up.

00;12;01;28 - 00;12;18;14
Brad
I suspect that there will be even more increased testing as well. The milk truck driver will not take any additional samples. It's just a subsample from the collection that they take on farm when they're, taking that sample.

00;12;18;20 - 00;12;25;19
Emily
So it shouldn't feel like a big new process that's happening. If they're using the subsample.

00;12;25;21 - 00;12;57;20
Brad
It is not a big new process that is happening. These are just going to they're going to subsample at the processing plant into different tubes that will go to the veterinary diagnostic lab. So let's talk about the testing and what might happen even on the flow. So if you get so if there's negative test the diagnostic lab will report all non negative and negative farm samples to the national lab.

00;12;57;22 - 00;13;30;00
Brad
Farmers will not hear whether their samples are negative or not. If you want to know you certainly can contact the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. And they will share those test results from farms if you specifically request them. But they will not be sharing the negative test results with the farm. So if you don't hear anything from the Minnesota Department of Egg, you should probably assume that you have negative tests.

00;13;30;02 - 00;13;53;28
Brad
And I think based on testing. So the reason they want to do this testing is obviously it will help maximize efficiency. They want to ensure that the samples are of high quality. They're run in a timely manner. The diagnostic lab at the University of Minnesota will have prompt testing. So the goal is to have one lab test the samples.

00;13;53;29 - 00;14;06;23
Brad
It will be very quickly. And there's many trained people there that I'm confident in will provide excellent quality and service on these samples.

00;14;06;25 - 00;14;20;17
Emily
So I have a question I don't think we've addressed yet. So let's say right, I'm a producer. We know we have producers listening. Am I going to have to pay for the sampling to happen on my farm? Am I going to see a charge for this somewhere?

00;14;20;19 - 00;14;41;19
Brad
These will not be charged. Back to the dairy farmer for taking all of these samples. It is not. It is a federal program. The money will come through USDA to collect those samples, so the farmers should not have to worry about anything happening or any cost incurred by the individual farms.

00;14;41;22 - 00;14;55;09
Emily
Right. So this should be really kind of low stakes as far as far as on farm changes go, right. There should basically be nothing because they're just using sub samples from the milk samples they're already taking.

00;14;55;11 - 00;15;27;27
Brad
That is correct. That is correct. That is correct. So let's talk about what happens if you get a positive sample. Nobody wants to have a positive sample. Like I said here in Minnesota, our last case was basically in July. And that was the last quarantine that was released. The first case in Minnesota was June 4th, so we had a short six week time period, and then we haven't had any new positive cases.

00;15;28;01 - 00;15;57;13
Brad
Now, there could have been that we just we don't know, they haven't been tested, etc. but according to Minnesota Department of AG, no new cases. So if you get a positive sample you will be contacted by the Board of Animal Health. With your results, from a case manager, you will be each farm will be assigned a case manager and they will talk about verbal quarantine instructions.

00;15;57;20 - 00;16;37;28
Brad
Then your case manager will do a site visit to deliver your quarantine document and record and review any requirements or documents that are going to happen on this quarantine. So what does a quarantine look like? Well, all livestock, whether that's dairy, goats, beef, you name it, poultry, cats, manure, waste, milk mortalities, all of that will be quarantined. The milk can still be sold for pasteurization as usual, so you can still ship your milk.

00;16;38;04 - 00;17;03;08
Brad
So that's not affected. So. But all livestock will be quarantine. So what does this really mean? No livestock or poultry can move on to the farm and nothing quarantined can leave. So you can't bring any animals in and you can't bring animals out unless you apply for a movement permit from the Board of Animal Health and is actually granted.

00;17;03;11 - 00;17;37;08
Brad
So if you need to cull some cows, you can apply for a permit from the Board of Animal Health, and they can approve that. And you would be able to ship animals, but nothing can leave and nothing can come on unless you have approval from the Board of Animal Health. You will also have to have required plans, a milk management plan, a containment biosecurity plan, as well as a manure plan to help minimize the spread of H5n1 to other farms or your farms.

00;17;37;13 - 00;17;58;16
Brad
So there's going to be, epidemiology investigation of animal movements on and off the farm in the past 30 days. So this is if you have been quarantine and it may or may not be the same day as the initial site visit, but you will have to be able to track your animals, what's come on, what has left in the last 30 days.

00;17;58;16 - 00;18;30;08
Brad
So hopefully you have good records to be able to keep that. There will obviously be Minnesota Department of Health. We'll have human surveillance because we know that it could spread to humans, whether that's employees, milkers, milk truck drivers, you name it. So there will be human surveillance. There will also be biosecurity visits. Basically, the case manager will be the point of contact through all of this in your quarantine.

00;18;30;10 - 00;18;59;08
Brad
I think you have to have 30 days or so of no positive test. And then you were released from your quarantine. So the reason for a lot of the quarantines and movement is really about these H5n1. It can be spread to people through direct contact with infected animals or their environment. Even with the dairy cow can it can spread to, person.

00;18;59;10 - 00;19;41;26
Brad
Person to person spread is very rare. So most of the cases, if not all, have been direct contact with an animal that has had H5n1. And right now it's obviously low risk to the general public. But there is a risk of farm workers. So you can get a lot of PPE. So personal protective equipment, whether that's coveralls, Tyvek suits, rubber boots, goggles, N95 respirators and a lot of that, you should really if you have a positive case, you should monitor your employees or the people on the dairy.

00;19;41;26 - 00;20;11;29
Brad
You should monitor yourself. So if you come down with flu symptoms, you should go see a doctor. And, because we never know what's going to happen. I think the fear is, is that once it goes into a human, it could modify itself and start something that we probably don't want to start. So you can request PPE from the Minnesota Department of Health or a entity.

00;20;12;05 - 00;20;40;05
Brad
They will provide PPE to dairy and poultry producers, milk processing and beef slaughter plants. So actually a lot of there's been a lot of requests, at Minnesota Department of Health from the dairy industry. Most of the requests are actually from the dairy industry. We've made a request for our dairy. We have not tested positive, but we have requested PPE equipment just in case something might happen.

00;20;40;12 - 00;21;04;08
Brad
Where we have this, the employees, I've been told where all the PPE is. We've told them that they should wear it and that they should utilize this in case of a positive case in our herd, whether that might happen or not, we don't know. But that is, what you should do is have that personal protective equipment for your employees to ensure that they don't get sick.

00;21;04;14 - 00;21;18;19
Emily
Right. And be prepared ahead of time. I think, you know, we've all learned our lesson with with PPE in the past, right? It's better to, have it before you need it so that you aren't scrambling, and maybe unable to find it when, when the time comes.

00;21;18;22 - 00;21;45;22
Brad
So I think that hopefully helped you, kind of walk you through a little bit about what's going to happen with the national milk testing. Like I said, this is what's going to happen in Minnesota. Other states might be different, but at least it hopefully walked you through it. What might happen? What could happen as we go into, I guess, the unknown with H5n1 and what's going to happen.

00;21;45;22 - 00;22;06;26
Brad
So the testing is going to start in February here in Minnesota and other states as well. Other states are going to do this as well. So more states are starting February 1st and we will see what happens. Hopefully, we don't have many cases here. And it's, going to be less and less of an issue. Who knows?

00;22;06;28 - 00;22;24;11
Brad
I Brad does not have a crystal ball. I wish I did and could tell you that we won't have any, but you just never know what might happen. So hopefully that tells you a little bit about what's going to happen with the H5 and one influenza testing in milk. And with the Minnesota.

00;22;24;11 - 00;22;48;13
Emily
Plan. Right. And you know, the the overall message here is that the testing will be happening. It is starting. And it really shouldn't impact anything on your operation. Unless you turn up with a positive test, and then need to go through that process. But the monitoring. Regular testing. Yeah. Should not impact day to day operation.

00;22;48;16 - 00;23;12;07
Emily
You know, and again, like Brad said, this is really to, to help see, you know, how it is spreading. You know, if it does spread. And again, if we, turn up with so many months of negative tests, the testing will decrease. So, you know, this is a way to, to be cautious, to use those funds from the USDA to monitor this.

00;23;12;10 - 00;23;33;11
Emily
And, yeah, it's just kind of, you know, stay tuned type situation. And of course, like we said at the beginning, we will be discussing more about H5n1, diving into some of the things that we didn't talk about today. But, you know, so stay tuned. But really wanted to give an overview of the upcoming testing that's going to start.

00;23;33;14 - 00;24;05;12
Emily
And then we'll we'll keep keep you posted on updates as they become available. All right. Well, we talked a lot today, about this testing. So we are going to wrap it there. But if you have specific questions about the milk testing process for Minnesota, there is a place that you can direct your questions. So that email address is testing milk dot MDA at State Department US.

00;24;05;15 - 00;24;45;07
Emily
So again if you have questions about the milk testing that's going to happen in Minnesota, you can email questions to testing milk dot MBDa at State Department US. So again we are wrapping the episode there. If you have general questions, comments or scathing rebuttals about today's episode or ideas for a future episode, you can email those to the newsroom at Umkc Edu, and you can find us on the web at extension dot UMD, and you can find more from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture at MBDa.

00;24;45;07 - 00;24;54;29
Emily
Dot state. That makes us and that is a wrap by by.