Words no producer wants to hear: Cows at the neighboring dairy have the bird flu virus

Photo: (from l to r: Mike Parreria, Fernando Valadao and Mike Valadao)

Mike Valadao of Valadao Dairy in Hanford, Calif., knew highly pathogenic avian influenza type A H5N1 (more commonly known as bird flu) was coming his way after hearing reports of neighboring dairies experiencing symptoms. He knew it was only a matter of time.

Valadao felt confident in his biosecurity measures and management protocols for their 2,200-cow dairy, however he also knew that stopping the spread of bird flu to his herd was going to be difficult.

Valadao turned to their CowManager monitoring system for help. “Early detection of the virus is critical to minimizing its impact,” says Valadao. “CowManager’s ear sensor measures ear temperature combined with eating, rumination and activity, providing us early and accurate health alerts.”

That gut-wrenching moment

The team watched the CowManager “potential sick cow” list go from 30 to 60 to 120 within hours. That’s when they knew the virus had hit them.

“With CowManager, we were able to catch infected cows two to three days before they showed clinical signs, allowing our team to intervene and begin treatment immediately,” says Valadao. “We watched the list on an hourly basis and knew which cows were off. The app showed signs that a cow may not be feeling well. We knew something was up.”

The Valadao team was on high alert, looking for cows not eating, cows being lethargic. CowManager caught these cows before the team did. “Because of CowManager, we knew a cow was infected before she actually showed signs and before we got a positive test,” adds Valadao.

Ear temperature as a key parameter

“CowManager’s ear sensors measure the temperature of a cow’s ear, which is a unique, valuable indicator of managing herd health,” says Valadao’s breeder and herd consultant, Mike Parreria. “The change in ear temperature along with changes in behavior mean a cow, in no uncertain terms, is getting sick.”

Parreria works with other herds in California. He says herds using CowManager bounced back from bird flu much quicker than herds without the cow monitoring system.

“On dairies without CowManager, I’m seeing an average turnaround time of 60 days to rebound from bird flu,” says Parreria. “At Valadao, they saw a 45-day recovery period. Milk production, which had dropped by 20 pounds per cow per day on average, returned to normal and there were fewer complications from other health challenges that many neighboring producers have seen amplified by bird flu. Having CowManager has also benefited the Valadao repro program post-infection, as Mike’s cows have had less reproductive challenges compared to other herds I’m breeding.”

“CowManager definitely helped reduce losses associated with the bird flu,” reports Valadao. “It started on day 1 because the team had an accurate list of cows that needed attention. I was actually able to see those cows get better via the CowManager app; I watched their data improve shortly after we treated them. Early detection was a key component to our cows bouncing back.”