Bird flu detected in four Colorado dairy herds

Colorado News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed that dairy herds in nine states are infected with the H5N1 virus or bird flu.

Four of those herds are in Colorado, where the first infection was detected in the northeastern part of the state in April.

The USDA and the Colorado Department of Agriculture are asking farmers and ranchers to watch for signs of infection.

“ We’re asking people if you’ve got clinical signs of disease, which is usually pretty pronounced in terms of decreased feed intake, decreased milk production, cows that don’t look very, very happy, they’re not doing their normal activities, such as eating, lying down, ruminating. Those are the types of cows that we’re looking for that could have this disease,” said Dr. Jason Lombard, a veterinary epidemiologist at Colorado State University

Dr. Lombard says the first infected herd was identified earlier this year in Texas.