Worry over bird flu prevents some states from allowing dairy cow showings; for other states, the fair goes on with testing

Fair competitor Emerson Wemark, 10, reclines with a cow.
(Photo by KC McGinnis, STAT)

For many farming families, more than a year of planning and work can go into having their farm animals compete at summer fairs. Adults and children look forward to getting their animals all gussied up and judged with excitement on par with a major holiday. But this year's showings are a bit different, with vets and animal farmers sharing concern over bird-flu, or H5N1, spreading from lactating cattle, reports Eric Boodman of STAT. Some states or counties have canceled their lactating dairy shows, but other fairs, like many in Iowa, will include lactating cattle showings with required testing as bird flu remains a worry and an annoyance.

The Iowa State Fair takes place in August, and its dairy shows might include hundreds of lactating cows "from a long list of dairies scattered across six different states," Boodman explains. "Just as authorities fretted about Christmas Covid spikes, so vets are trying to prevent trailers from clanking back home with microscopic stowaways replicating in udder cells."

Vets and animal farmers want to prevent H5N1 spread while still holding a binding community event that people have worked all year to enjoy. "They’re hoping to avert inter-species spread. Cow-to-chicken could wipe out a whole poultry flock. Cow-to-pig could put the virus into an efficient mutation machine," Boodman reports. "Though the handful of human infections documented so far in farmworkers have been mild, cow-to-human is a real risk, too. The longer H5N1 circulates in cattle, the more it poses a pandemic risk for us."

Michigan took the step of prohibiting all lactating dairy cow showings, but states such as Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota have taken a testing route, which allows lactating dairy cows to show, if they’re tested for Influenza A within the seven days before they arrive.

Earlier this month the Winneshiek County Fair in Iowa was held and despite testing regulations and some bird-flu anxiety, many families chose to participate. John and Peggy Sparrgrove along with the grandchildren opted to attend. Boodman writes, "These were the events their grandkids had spent all year working toward, and to them, the current threat didn’t justify scrapping the whole idea."

When it came to bird-flu opinions, Winneshiek dairy attendees offered varying degrees of skepticism and agreement. "A dairyman might give a reflexive eye roll about some rules, but also describe them as necessary; you can resent something that makes a tough business tougher and also see why it’s in place," Boodman reports. "One used the word 'propaganda,' then corrected himself, saying the virus is real and must be taken seriously."