State Offers Funds to Dairy Farms for Participating in Bird Flu Research

Jun 20, 2024

By Dee Morrison

Tuesday Michigan’s agriculture department announced financial assistance to dairy farms impacted by avian influenza that help with research

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, MDARD, is offering immediate financial aid through its Emergency Response programing for dairy farmers impacted by highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Funding is available for up to 20 farms of up to $28,000 per farm, which is in addition to federal funding already available to impacted dairy farms in Michigan.

Eligible farms must work with MDARD and federal veterinary services to complete epidemiological investigations on the farm, participate in real-time herd research with Michigan State University teams, and engage in programs related to human infection with the state health department if necessary.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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