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HPAI in dairy cattle not impacting demand, markets

A market consultant says the recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in lactating dairy cows is not affecting demand or the dairy markets.

Mike North with Ever.ag tells Brownfield, “Now that we know what it is and we’ve watched how cows perform and how they work their way through it, it’s really become no story at all.”

He says when cows get the virus, they recover within a couple of weeks.  He says there’s also never been a food safety problem because of cattle having the HPAI virus. “As we watch it, both from a supply perspective and a demand perspective, we don’t see anything here that should really shake things up.”

North says the small amount of disruption in production is muted by more milk production during spring flush. “There’s extra milk that’s being produced by the rest of the herd, so as a whole, we’re not seeing a whole lot of impact on the supply side.”

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been found in mid-lactation dairy cow udders in Michigan, Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho.  Texas has the most cases with ten affected herds.

North spoke to Brownfield during the recent Wisconsin Agricultural Bankers Conference in Wisconsin Dells.