This year in Michigan, where dairy and livestock workers have fallen ill with bird flu, an unlikely pair of cows is preparing for the state fair.
Organizers of this year’s state fair will feature Milkshake and Buttercup, two life-size fiberglass cows with rubber breasts and water-filled udders, for a popular milking demonstration.
Minnesota State Fair chief Moo Booth created a similar solution for his milking event: a fake dairy cow named Olympia.
“Normally we would have a real cow,” said Jill Nathe, deputy general manager of Agriculture and Competition at the show. “We can’t do that right now.”
With bird flu continuing to spread, infecting cattle herds for the first time this year, as well as four dairy workers, state and county fair organizers across the United States have been forced to reinvent nostalgic summer traditions that have long been celebrated by urban and rural populations.
State and local officials say they are trying to protect people and animals from the H5N1 virus, as some farmers have refused to test their animals. Experts fear that increased transmission of the virus could help it adapt to spreading among humans.
The risk of viral spread among livestock has prompted some Michigan county fairs to cancel dairy exhibits, and the Iowa State Fair has closed its milking barn.
In Minnesota, state fair workers pulled extra gloves and face shields from Covid-era supplies for livestock staff and kept pregnant dairy cows out of the fair’s calving center.
Many state fairs, including Wisconsin, required the lactating herd to test negative within seven days before arriving at the fair.
Wisconsin dairy farmer Rick “RT” Thompson said he had to carefully time his vet visits so his milk H5N1 test results would fall within the required window for several shows. The vet’s wife personally drove the samples to a state lab in Madison to make sure they arrived in time for testing.
“It’s not a convenient thing to do,” said Thompson, 57, who has been attending the Wisconsin State Fair for 46 years.
Source: Terra
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