0:01

Oh, my goodness. Look at this. High

0:04

schooler Emma Meyer walks into a barn

0:06

with her boyfriend, Joey Paschel. The

0:09

two of them are there to cuddle some

0:11

cows. Hi, buddy. Joey

0:16

paid $75 for the hour-long cow-cuddle

0:18

session at the farm in

0:21

an effort to impress his date before asking

0:23

her to the prom, and we'll get to

0:25

that later. But, yes,

0:27

cow-cuddling is a thing, and for

0:29

visitors, you know, cuddling dairy or

0:31

beef cattle can be

0:33

therapeutic or a quaint getaway

0:35

for city folk looking for

0:38

some good old country fun. That's

0:40

pretty good, huh? Yeah. And

0:44

these sessions have become vital for the owners

0:46

of these farms. The cow-cuddling

0:48

has taken over. That's

0:50

Lou's Elena Klotz. She

0:53

and her husband Dan own Lou's Farms,

0:56

and she says such visits have become

0:58

essential to covering costs. I'm

1:00

the one that keeps the books and everything.

1:03

I said, look, Dan, $75 pays for one

1:05

round bale of hay. I

1:09

said, we got to look at that way.

1:11

So every person that hugs the cow pays

1:14

for a bale of hay for the week. And

1:17

you can follow the farm on Instagram,

1:19

too. We will. But this warm and

1:21

fuzzy practice is facing a new

1:23

risk. Bird flu. The

1:28

U.S. Department of Agriculture recently confirmed

1:30

bird flu, otherwise known as avian

1:33

flu, was present in

1:35

dairy herds in nine states. On

1:39

this weekend episode, we'll sit down with our

1:41

health and livestock reporters to find out

1:43

how this is spreading, what

1:45

the impact these industries are, and, of

1:47

course, how worried we should be. I'm

1:50

your host, Jonah Green. If

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That's plushcare.com/weight loss. Tom

2:32

Palancic has been covering commodities for a

2:35

decade with a focus on livestock, and

2:38

he joins us now. Hey, Tom. Hi,

2:40

Jonah. So how is bird flu being

2:42

transmitted, and how does it jump from

2:44

birds to cows? It's

2:46

quite fascinating. The virus

2:48

circulates in wild birds,

2:52

which can be infected

2:54

without dying. And

2:56

the US Department of Agriculture

2:59

believes that there

3:01

was one introduction of

3:03

the virus to dairy cattle

3:05

from wild birds, probably

3:08

down in Texas. And

3:11

it's possible that the wild

3:14

birds could have dropped their

3:16

feces into the feed supply

3:18

of a dairy herd. And

3:21

if the dairy cattle then consumed that

3:23

feed, they could have become infected. Okay,

3:26

so that's the first case. How did that

3:28

lead to such a large outbreak? Since

3:31

then, the dairy cows have been

3:34

moved around the country and spread

3:36

it within herds. USDA

3:38

is not sure yet exactly how

3:40

that's happening, but they suspect

3:42

that it's through the raw milk

3:45

that the cows produce. Why

3:47

would that be? Raw milk

3:49

from infected cows has high

3:51

concentrations of the virus, and

3:54

it's possible that the virus could

3:57

be transmitted through... milking

4:00

machines or other ways in

4:02

which the cows interact with

4:04

this milk from

4:07

infected animals. And so what

4:09

effect does this have on animals?

4:11

Do they show symptoms? Yes.

4:14

Dairy cows will produce less

4:16

milk when they're infected and

4:19

the milk that they produce is

4:21

strange. It's off color and it's

4:23

thicker than it normally would be.

4:27

Also the animals typically consume

4:29

less feed. Those are

4:31

the main signs that they're sick. How

4:34

widespread is it at this point? The

4:37

USDA has confirmed infections

4:39

in dairy herds in

4:41

nine states since

4:43

the end of March. Scientists

4:46

have said that they think

4:48

that infections are probably more

4:50

widespread because testing of

4:52

retail milk samples by

4:55

the FDA showed

4:57

genetic materials from the virus

4:59

in about 20% of the

5:01

samples. 20%

5:03

seems like a lot. How

5:06

are officials working to contain this?

5:09

The USDA started testing

5:11

requirements a week ago

5:14

requiring that dairy cows test

5:17

negative before they're transported over

5:20

state lines. Well

5:23

since the testing requirements started, we

5:25

have not seen any new cases

5:27

yet as a lot of scientists

5:29

had expected we would. And so

5:31

even though it's found so widely, he does

5:33

kill the virus, right? I mean so the

5:35

milk and burgers are still safe to eat

5:37

at this point. The FDA

5:39

has said that tests show that

5:42

pasteurization kills

5:44

the virus. The

5:49

USDA separately said that it

5:51

tested retail samples of ground

5:54

beef from states

5:56

that had infected herds. Older

5:59

dairy cows. cows are often

6:01

processed into ground beef. The

6:04

USDA tests came back negative

6:07

for H5N1 bird flu virus.

6:14

Sticking with pasteurization, I have a kind of tangential

6:16

question that I know you've wrote about. Raw

6:18

milk. I live in a rural area. You

6:21

see raw milk at the farm stores. Some

6:23

people use it for making cheese like we've done. Other

6:25

people drink it. You know,

6:27

there are raw milk enthusiasts. How do

6:29

they feel about all of this? Raw

6:33

milk enthusiasts have become more common

6:35

these days. They say they like

6:37

to consume it because it

6:40

has a creamier texture and a

6:42

better taste. And

6:44

they think it has more nutritional

6:47

value than pasteurized milk, which is

6:49

heated to a high temperature. They

6:52

generally have told us that they

6:54

are not concerned about the bird

6:56

flu virus being in milk samples.

6:59

They think that the farms

7:02

that produce the raw milk are

7:04

different from more industrial

7:07

operations. And

7:10

they trust in the farmers where they

7:12

buy the raw milk from in these

7:14

facilities. Some of the

7:16

people who have become fans of raw

7:18

milk include bodybuilders who

7:20

want the protein, mothers who

7:22

may not be able to

7:24

breastfeed so they want to

7:26

feed their babies raw milk.

7:29

The FDA and other

7:31

health experts are telling

7:33

people do not drink raw milk. They

7:36

have long advised against it because

7:38

it could contain bacteria

7:40

or viruses. And now

7:42

they are redoubling that message with

7:44

the spread of bird flu in

7:47

dairy cows. And

7:52

so for the farm sector, for

7:54

this industry, what has been the

7:56

impact of this outbreak? Bird

7:59

flu is... Lethal for poultry

8:01

flocks since the beginning

8:03

of Twenty Twenty Two.

8:06

More than ninety million

8:08

chickens, turkeys, egg laying

8:10

hands, and other birds

8:12

have been eliminated because

8:14

of outbreaks. Bird. Flu

8:17

also has an economic impact

8:19

for Us trading because. Importers.

8:22

Of Us poultry products. Place.

8:25

Bans on our goods from

8:27

in areas where there have

8:30

been and sections. And

8:32

often know they'll keep those

8:34

restrictions on trade and place

8:36

or a while which prevents

8:38

the Us from exporting are

8:40

poultry products to the world.

8:42

For dairy cows, the virus

8:44

is not. We thought the

8:46

animals will get sick for

8:48

a little more than a

8:50

week and then they seem

8:52

to recover. And start

8:54

producing about the same

8:56

amount of belk as

8:59

they did before becoming

9:01

infected. So far one

9:03

country Columbia. Has. Officially

9:05

put restrictions on

9:08

Us bees. From.

9:11

States. That had. In

9:13

sections of bird flu in

9:15

dairy cattle. And so them.

9:17

What? Has been or might

9:19

be the effect for consumers. In our

9:22

I remember few months ago egg prices

9:24

were affected by ah this. There.

9:26

Has been and up take

9:29

in bird flu cases in

9:31

poultry now for the third.

9:34

Spraying in a row. The third

9:36

year in a row and we've

9:38

had millions of egg laying hands

9:41

wiped out by the disease already.

9:43

This year alone. So. The

9:45

eggs supply is tight

9:47

again. As for dairy

9:49

cows, The. virus is not

9:52

lethal for them farmers will separate

9:54

sick animals from the rest of

9:56

the heard for a while and

9:59

their suppose to get

10:01

rid of the milk from those

10:03

animals while they're sick. That temporarily

10:06

reduces the milk supply, but experts

10:08

say that in the big picture

10:10

it has not created

10:13

a shortage and there's still plenty

10:15

of milk to go around. So

10:20

we've established that this virus we're calling

10:22

bird flu or avian flu is evidently

10:24

no longer contained to birds. In

10:27

fact there's been a worrying spread to

10:29

mammals. So I

10:31

suppose the next logical question is

10:33

how might this affect humans? Our

10:36

species is still pretty traumatized

10:38

by our most recent pandemic

10:41

and scientists appear increasingly concerned that this

10:44

disease or one like it could

10:46

pose yet another global threat. But

10:49

don't stock up on toilet paper and

10:51

flour just yet. Julie

10:54

Steenhuysen has been covering health and infectious

10:56

outbreaks at Reuters for 30 years and

10:59

she joins us now. Hi Julie. Hi.

11:02

So at this point how worried should

11:04

I be? Well unless you work on

11:06

a dairy farm there really is very little

11:08

for you to worry about. As

11:10

an individual person your risk according

11:13

to the CDC is low.

11:16

The concern is that this

11:18

is the first time we've seen bird

11:20

flu in dairy cattle and

11:23

for dairy workers the risk

11:25

is now considered to be

11:27

low to moderate. The reason

11:29

that it's concerning is because dairy workers haven't

11:32

typically worn any protective gear and

11:34

one person in a farm in

11:37

Texas was actually infected with this

11:39

virus. That person fortunately

11:41

got pink eye so an eye

11:43

infection not terribly serious but

11:46

the concern with H5N1 or

11:48

avian flu we call it

11:51

bird flu is that

11:53

it has a track record of being

11:55

very serious and causing Lethal

11:57

infections in about half of the

11:59

people. The contract the virus so

12:01

it's for many years been on

12:04

a list of they com pathogens

12:06

are viruses with pandemic potential and

12:08

I think we all remember what

12:11

a pandemic can do to our

12:13

lives, to society to our economy's.

12:16

So. That's a pretty serious concern.

12:18

And. To resist like cove it or the flu

12:21

and that every season has a kind of the

12:23

new flavor their com that. This. Particular

12:25

virus has been circulating

12:27

the globe. Mutating

12:30

slightly since Twenty Twenty

12:32

two. And we'd seen

12:34

reports and we reported on.

12:36

It's acquiring the ability to

12:39

insects and kill various mammal

12:41

species. A lot of

12:43

mammals have been killed chats,

12:46

raccoons, sea lions, A

12:48

lot of the times that happens

12:50

when them predatory animals eat a

12:52

dead bird that they find so

12:54

in that way it's true. that

12:57

kind of exposure sir the passive

12:59

exposure the not necessarily transmitting it

13:01

from animal to animal. Which.

13:03

Is a step up in your concern.

13:05

Him and of animal start to transmit

13:08

the virus. Then. You

13:10

know it acquires new mutations.

13:12

Ultimately, what we're concerned about:

13:15

his Can this bird virus

13:17

turn into a human virus

13:19

and. The. More exposure than

13:21

it has to mammals. And

13:24

to people. Some. More concerning it

13:26

gets because of more opportunity it

13:28

would have. To. Turn

13:31

into something that can easily transmit.

13:33

And. People. right? Now human

13:35

infection is very rare re the moon

13:38

has to be through direct contact. There's.

13:40

Only one human case of

13:42

this particular H Five n

13:45

One bird flu tattle outbreak

13:47

that has infected a human.

13:49

This. is the second infection however

13:51

in a human in the united

13:53

states the other one occurred i

13:56

bleed was two years ago and

13:58

colorado on a farm that have

14:00

had bird flu in poultry and

14:02

the individual was killing the whole

14:05

flock in order to contain

14:07

that outbreak. Okay. That

14:09

person also had very mild symptoms, by the

14:11

way. Now

14:16

we heard earlier about cow cuddling.

14:18

If something like that is still

14:21

a safe practice, or should people take that threat

14:23

more seriously and like dairy

14:26

workers consider some sort of

14:28

protection? Well, dairy

14:30

workers have already been instructed

14:32

by the CDC to wear

14:34

protective gear. I would say

14:36

if we don't have a

14:39

good picture of how many cattle in

14:41

this country are infected with this virus,

14:43

but given the fact that one

14:46

out of five samples that

14:48

the FDA tested from our

14:50

milk supply, this is pretty

14:52

widespread. And I would say, it's not

14:55

cuddle cows. It's not necessary. There

14:57

are other comfort animals that would not

14:59

pose this kind of risk. Good

15:03

point. So are scientists

15:05

considering or watching this for

15:09

the possibility that it could get out of control?

15:11

Absolutely. There is increasing

15:14

concern that this outbreak could

15:16

lead to something that could

15:18

cause a pandemic. We

15:20

never know exactly which combination of

15:23

mutations it will take or which

15:25

combination of exposures and which animals

15:27

it will take. But

15:29

it can go from being

15:32

currently a low risk to a

15:34

very serious risk depending on what

15:36

the virus does. And viruses

15:39

are unpredictable. So it's something

15:41

that global scientists are very concerned

15:43

about. One thing that's

15:45

important to say right now is that

15:48

this virus, although humans can get if

15:50

they're in very close contact with it,

15:53

this virus is not capable at

15:55

this point of being transmitted from

15:57

person to person, just like normal

15:59

flu. So the concern right

16:01

now is just that we want to

16:04

keep the virus from mutating to be

16:06

com. Something. That can cause a

16:08

pandemic. Oh. And as for

16:10

Joey and am others cow cuddling

16:12

scenes, Joey did ask amateur the

16:14

prom during their barn visit. He

16:16

got the farmers to put up

16:18

a banner on a cast named

16:20

Yogi with the word from tanned

16:22

a question mark. There was a

16:24

response. I'm

16:28

pretty sure that was a yes. Thanks

16:37

to Tom and Julie for their

16:39

time and expertise and you Pj

16:41

have said or and Air Cox

16:44

for their cuddly cow reporting. Burgess

16:46

World News is produced this weekend

16:48

every week by Tar Oaths scale

16:50

is Sir David Spencer Christopher while

16:52

Jasper and Meet on a Green

16:54

can Be Now is Our regular

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host or senior producer is Carmel

16:58

Crimmins or executive producer is Leila

17:00

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17:02

music composition by Jews Summer will

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