Veterinary Medicine

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the agency is hyper-focused on poultry, but no vaccine is yet available. The agency has ‘separate work streams’ to address the virus in the ‘cattle and dairy’ industries, but dairy is not part of USDA’s primary focus for now.

Nearly half of all farmworkers are undocumented, and industries such as dairy and meatpacking plants are especially vulnerable to labor shortages.

The CR includes nearly $110 billion in disaster and farmer aid, which includes $10 billion in farmer aid and $21 billion ag disaster aid. $2 billion of that disaster aid is specifically for livestock producers. The measure also includes a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill.

USDA announced on Oct. 30 the first reported case of H5N1 in a pig in an Oregon backyard farm.