Fake cows ready for milking at US state fairs as bird flu threat looms By Reuters

By Tom Polansek and PJ Huffstutter

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (Reuters) – This year in Michigan, where dairy workers and herds have been sickened by bird flu, a pair of unlikely prized cows are poised to take the state fair stage.

State fair organizers this year are introducing Milkshake and Buttercup, two life-size fiberglass cows with rubber teats and water-filled udders, for a popular milking demonstration.

The Minnesota State Fair’s Moo Booth boss came up with a similar creation for his hands-on milking event: a fake dairy cow named Olympia.

“Normally, we’d have a real cow there,” said Jill Nathe, the fair’s assistant general manager for agriculture and competition. “We can’t do that right now.”

As bird flu continues to spread, infecting cattle herds for the first time this year as well as four dairy workers, organizers of state and county fairs across the U.S. have been forced to reimagine long-celebrated nostalgic summer traditions both the people in the city and those in the countryside.

For farmers and students eager for blue ribbons and bragging rights, the outbreak has forced them to navigate new testing rules and manage the logistical headaches of getting a clean bill of health for animals before entering the show ring.

State and local officials say they are trying to protect people and animals from the H5N1 virus because some dairy farmers have refused to test their herds. Experts fear that further transmission of the virus could help it adapt to spread between people.

The risk of viral spread among herds prompted some Michigan county fairs to cancel dairy shows, while the Iowa State Fair closed its milking barn.

In Minnesota, state fair staff procured extra gloves and face shields from COVID-era stocks for livestock crews and kept pregnant dairy cows away from the fair’s birthing center.

Several farm states, including Wisconsin, have required that lactating cattle test negative within seven days of arriving at the fair.

Wisconsin dairy farmer Rick “RT” Thompson said he has to carefully time his vet visits so that his milk test results for H5N1 fall within the window required for different fairs. His vet’s wife personally drove samples to a state lab in Madison to make sure they arrived in time for testing.

“It’s not a convenient thing,” said Thompson, 57, who has attended the Wisconsin State Fair for 46 years.

Michigan has banned lactating cows from all public exhibitions until the state goes two months without finding an infected herd. With only one state fair a year, the chance has passed for 2024. Michigan last reported a case on Monday.

“We were all waiting for that 60-day window,” said Michigan State Fair Livestock Director LC Scramlin. “But we kept having another case and another one going on.”

COWS STAY AT HOME

At the Wisconsin State Fair, where visitors can buy everything from cream puffs to hot tubs, veterinarians inspected the cattle before disembarking from the trailer to make sure the animals were healthy upon arrival — a departure from years precedents, said the exhibitors.

The risk of bird flu was enough to convince Jennifer and Bethany Droessler to keep a lactating cow at home. The sisters from Cuba City, Wis., transported other cattle to show in the event’s Dairy Lane, where fairgoers petted and took selfies with animals that topped the scale by more than 1,000 pounds (454 kg). .

“We’ll watch next year and hopefully it won’t be a problem,” Jennifer Droessler, 30, said.

More than 190 dairy herds across the country have been infected since March, and 13 farm workers have tested positive following exposure to cows and poultry.

The workers have all recovered, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says H5N1 remains a low risk to the general public. However, the CDC advises people not to eat, drink or touch anything in animal areas at fairs.

Several fairgoers from Wisconsin, the second-largest milk producer and top cheese-producing state, said they were unaware of or unconcerned about the rules. Visitors ate treats, including apples and cheese curds, while walking among cows chewing their laundry.

“I don’t think it’s a big risk,” said 88-year-old OE Glieber of Delafield, Wis., who came to the fair with his grandchildren. “The CDC is overreacting to a lot of things.”