"Taking every precaution": Cows screened ahead of county fairs as H5N1 spreads

BENTON COUNTY, Minn. — Before 4-H members in Benton County could compete for the top prize, they had to take an extra step of preparation .

As documented cases of bird flu continue to grow in Minnesota, at least nine cow herds have also seen outbreaks — including in Benton County.

"It's just like a common cold. You monitor it, you test it, we take care of each milk and each cow a little bit different," said dairy farmer Adam Scapanski. "We want to take every precaution to keep everyone as healthy as we can."

New protocols at county fairs — and eventually the state fair —  require a negative H5N1 test result between four to seven days ahead of the event.

"Our team has really done their due diligence and researched this and put in place the proper procedures and steps to avoid any outbreak," said Ted Prom, President of the Benton County Fair Board.

The Minnesota State Fair also announced it won't be featuring pregnant cows at the Miracle of Birth Center and shared there would be no live births this year.

"We started talking about it, as soon as we heard about the bird flu, we were already talking about how we were going to do things to handle it at the fair just to make sure everything goes smoothly," Scapanski said.