USDA to require testing of dairy cattle before interstate movement due to bird flu

According to the Hagstrom Report, reacting to the spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in dairy cattle, the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will require starting Monday the testing of all dairy cattle before interstate movement, a negative test before movement, and that laboratories and state veterinarians report all positive influenza detections.

USDA noted in a news release that they have identified spread between cows within the same herd, spread from cows to poultry, spread between dairies associated with cattle movements, and cows without clinical signs that have tested positive, and confirmed that USDA will pay for all testing.

Vilsack repeated previous statements that the milk supply is safe. Fragments of the virus have been found in milk, but those fragments were not live because the milk had been pasteurized and pasteurization eliminates the virus’s ability to be infectious. The milk with the virus got into the milk supply because asymptomatic cows were milked. Cows with symptoms produce discolored milk, which is thrown away, he confirmed.

The National Milk Producers Federation, which represents dairy farmers and co-ops, said that the Agriculture Department’s announcement is “appropriate,” and that dairy farmers stand ready to take a proactive approach to ensuring that we better understand the spread of the virus, do what they can to limit that spread, and ensure the health of animals and workers.

Biden-Harris Administration finalizes strategy to guide balanced management and conservation of public lands while industry groups say BLM proposed rule is not legal

• https://www.tsln.com/news/groups-say-blm-proposed-rule-is-not-legal/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1HnoT5-2QRhJ1uFQF0x7j7PdHdI4upp4z3Po10NxL_WhcyTC3-F-DfnHA_aem_AXwmTmW8stURDmwsmpCRkLoeBLjIV7F0Tc5fi4ODJQ5daK39SMK0Rk6EnXO4GgXaL2kccxpHdSTvOr9QPvEL29nz
• https://www.tsln.com/news/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-strategy-to-guide-balanced-management-conservation-of-public-lands/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1HnoT5-2QRhJ1uFQF0x7j7PdHdI4upp4z3Po10NxL_WhcyTC3-F-DfnHA_aem_AXwmTmW8stURDmwsmpCRkLoeBLjIV7F0Tc5fi4ODJQ5daK39SMK0Rk6EnXO4GgXaL2kccxpHdSTvOr9QPvEL29nz

According to TSLN, the Bureau of Land Management revealed a final rule on Thursday, April 18, which, among other changes, allows the approval of “restoration and mitigation” leases.  The Bureau of Land Management claims the rule is designed to protect land health while managing other uses of the public lands, such as clean energy development and outdoor recreation, but many federal land users are concerned about the possibility of this decision taking away grazing rights, timber rights and mineral rights for current users.

The final rule clarifies and refines concepts first proposed in April 2023, and builds on historic investments in public lands, waters and clean energy deployment provided by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda which recognizes the critical value of our public lands to all Americans. According to the Bureau of Land Management, it also complements the President’s America the Beautiful initiative to protect, conserve, connect and restore lands, waters and wildlife.

The final rule directs BLM to manage for landscape health, provide a mechanism for restoring and protecting our public lands through restoration and mitigation leases, and to clarify the designation and management of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).

Two different spokesmen for the Montana Natural Resource Coalition (MTNRC) say that their organization has serious concerns about the proposed rule. Executive Director, Todd Devlin, and Ross Butcher say the BLM has violated the law by not cooperating with county land use plans, and by adding to a very specific lists of “principled or major uses” for BLM land.

The Federal Land Management Policy Act, which governs the BLM, states that “The term ‘principal or major uses’ includes, and is limited to,
• Domestic livestock grazing
• Fish and wildlife development and utilization
• Mineral exploration and production
• Outdoor recreation
• Timber production

Devlin said because the language clearly states that BLM uses are “limited” to those uses, the BLM will need congressional approval to add “restoration and mitigation” leases or “conservation” to its plan as “this would override every other use.”

Devlin is also concerned about the designation and management of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and believes this rule change is an effort to take more land out of production, similar to how the Antiquities Act has been used.

Butcher said the BLM needs “to determine if their intended plan has effects on the natural environment as well as the human environment” because “in a plan like this where they will take federal land that is essential to our ag economy and our customs and culture,” and be “turning it into singular use, not multiple use – that will have a negative effect.”

Both Devlin and Butcher believe the BLM proposed plan is an effort to achieve President Biden’s 30×30 proposal, and that the ultimate goal is probably to advance the natural asset class securities scheme, and to make that work, they need a framework like being able to lease BLM or other federal land with the purpose of ‘conservation’ to take it out of production

While the New York Stock Exchange will not at this time offer investments into Natural Asset Companies, the concept has not gone away, and Butcher fears that the BLM mitigation and restoration leases are one piece of the scheme, stating “it’s confusing how they are going to use it. The ramification could be that China buys the rights to national parks or conservation easements.”

NCBA, Wyoming’s Governor Gordon, and the House Committee on Natural Resources all weighed in with concerns about the BLM’s proposal as well with the final rule expected to publish in the Federal Register in the coming days.