USDA is adding an additional $824 million in emergency funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation to bolster efforts to collect data on H5N1 in dairy cattle.
As part of the funding, the department is launching a new Voluntary H5N1 Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program for producers to monitor their herd health and expand USDA’s understanding of the disease.
“The Voluntary H5N1 Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program aims to create additional testing options for producers with herds that have tested negative for three weeks in a row, further reduce H5N1 virus dissemination, provide for further opportunities to test herds that are not known to be affected with H5N1, increase surveillance and expand our knowledge of the disease, and support an overall national program to reduce the risk of H5N1 in dairy herds,” USDA said.
