HURON, S.D. — There will be a new requirement specifically for dairy cows during the South Dakota State Fair that starts next month.
Exhibitors must test all lactating cows for H5N! avian influenza within seven days before they’re brought onto the State Fairgrounds in Huron.
State Fair manager Peggy Besch said she’s been working with the South Dakota Animal Industry Board.
Cows in five dairy herds in South Dakota have tested positive for the highly contagious virus in recent months. Avian influenza virus type A (H5N1) has been confirmed in dairy cattle in 13 states: 42 herds in Colorado, 29 in Idaho, 26 in Michigan, 22 in Texas, 13 in Iowa, eight each in New Mexico and Minnesota, five in South Dakota, four in Kansas, two in Oklahoma, and one each in North Carolina, Ohio, and Wyoming.
The 2024 State Fair opens on Wednesday, August 29, and wraps up on Monday, September 2, which is Labor Day.
⌊ Feds Require Mandatory Testing, Tracing Of All Diary Cattle ⌋
Besch said she recently met with staff for the South Dakota Animal Industry Board staff and dairy exhibit superintendents.
“Just so we’re all on the same path,” she told South Dakota State Fair Commission members. “I don’t think that anybody is going to be really surprised because lots of other states are implementing this as well.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture already requires testing of dairy cows for avian flu when they are moved between states.
Poultry testing for avian flu however hasn’t been discussed, she said.
“That’s very good we have the Animal Industry Board,” State Fair Commission Chair Faron Wahl of Sioux Falls said. “That’s why they’re there.”
