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Board of Animal Health urges pay boosts, details dairy testing and vulture biosecurity
Summary
Doctor Watson told the Appropriations Committee the agency is running weekly dairy milk testing for avian influenza, has partnered with NRCS on vulture‑proof composter measures, and asked the committee to restore a $241,005.93 general fund increase largely aimed at salaries to retain inspectors and veterinarians.
Doctor Watson, representing the Board of Animal Health, told the Appropriations Committee that the agency has expanded dairy milk testing since last November after avian influenza spilled into cattle and that the state remains recognized by USDA as free of active herd infection. "So every dairy every week during November through March," he said, explaining the surveillance cadence.
He said the primary risk is spillback to commercial poultry, not food‑safety: "the reason for that is not because it's a food safety hazard because pasteurization kills the virus," Watson said, adding that infected cows can seed infections in poultry…
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