By now, I'm sure you've probably heard about the H5N1 avian flu affecting farms across our country. Here are some basic facts that we are hearing about this round of bird flu (according to the CDC):
-Since January 2022, over 122 million birds have been euthanized to "prevent the spread" of bird flu.
-For the first time ever, we are hearing that the avian flu has made the leap from birds to cows.
-Since March 2024, the avian flu has worked its way across 16 states and has affected 845 dairy herds.
-There is a nationwide egg shortage in the US, primarily due to the loss of so many egg laying chickens. (In fact, I have been contacted by multiple grocery stores in the past few weeks wanting to know if I had eggs to sell them.)
Now let's get into the meat of the matter on this topic.
The trusty ol' CDC has a new $93 million plan to combat the bird flu. A big part of this plan is testing.
Animals that are infected or exposed to bird flu are typically culled (killed) to "prevent the spread". Up until recently, this has primarily affected chickens. However, now we are seeing dairy cows being culled across the country.
How are the authorities determining which animals to cull?
Do you remember the PCR tests that were used to detect COVID in humans? Yeah...the tests that produced a huge number of false positives?
Well you guessed it... the same type of inaccurate PCR tests are being used to determine the fate of many chickens and cows suspected to have the bird flu. As of last month, US federal agencies have issued their first mandatory H5N1 bird flu testing protocols in California and at least 5 other states, with plans to expand to all 50 states.
How do these mass culls affect the supply chain?
As I already mentioned, we are seeing a shortage of eggs as well as increased egg prices in the stores because of supply and demand. However, I think this will be fairly short-lived because egg laying hens can be replaced in a matter of months.
However, replacing dairy cows is not nearly as fast. It takes about 2 years for a newborn calf to grow up, get pregnant, and start producing milk. If we see a lot more dairy herds being culled, this will undoubtedly have long term implications on our milk supply. This could affect the availability and pricing of not just milk, but also butter, cream, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products on the shelves.
It seems that raw milk dairies are being targeted specifically. In California, believe it or not, it is legal to sell raw milk on the grocery store shelves. However, most of that is being pulled for fear of the bird flu. In fact, some raw dairies in California are being "temporarily" shut down and are not permitted to distribute any of their dairy products until further notice.
Is the fear of raw milk warranted?
The fact of the matter is that there is NO record of ANY virus EVER being transmitted through raw milk! (and that’s according to the CDC!) Additionally, raw milk has numerous anti-viral properties…So the likelihood of someone contracting bird flu through raw milk is extremely unlikely.
Why are authorities going after raw milk now?
I think the FDA is using bird flu as an excuse to take action against raw milk. It’s no secret that they don’t want raw milk to thrive…that’s a political decision they made years ago. And now, they want to go after it even harder with the rising popularity of RFK’s recent messaging.
The real food movement is continuing to gain momentum. More and more people are waking up to the fact that the government doesn’t care about keeping Americans healthy. The milk/dairy industry is valued at $60-70 billion annually. There’s a lot of people making a lot of money in that industry but nobody’s getting wealthy from raw milk. It’s ALWAYS about the money!!
I expect to see more attacks on real food, with more attempted divisions between consumers and their direct food supply (farmers).
What can consumers do?
Our centralized food system does not look out for the health of US consumers nor the wellbeing of American farmers. Big Ag is in bed with Big Pharma and the huge health insurance industry. Our nation has become way too reliant on “foods” that are not healthy. And if you wear a tin foil hat like me, you understand that a populace that relies on it’s government for food is very easily controlled…and that’s a recipe for tyranny!! But I digress.
The main takeaway from all of this is this: If you haven’t already done so, it is time to opt out of this system!!
Buy your food directly from farmers that use regenerative practices! Establish relationships with your farmers so that you know exactly how your food is produced. These relationships will also provide resiliency in your food supply, should our centralized food system experience more problems (which is very likely!).