Freeze Dried Milk

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I am headed to store and will buy some freeze dried milk.
Why? - It seems like a good idea.
There may be a run on powdered milk.
It all has to do with H5N1 otherwise known as Bird Flu.
There is an outbreak happening in California that is causing havoc among dairy cows.
There is the beginning of an epidemic on cows in that region that is causing an unusually high number of fatalities.
There are so many dead cows at this point that reporters are recording pictures of them lying dead in the streets.


As bird flu outbreaks rise, piles of dead cattle become shocking Central Valley tableau

-- The mortality rate among H5N1 infected dairy cows has been much higher than anticipated.
-- Since early August, outbreaks have been reported in 124 California dairy herds.

On a recent 98-degree afternoon, dead cows and calves were piled up along the roadside. Thick swarms of black flies hummed and knocked against the windows of an idling car, while crows and vultures waited nearby — eyeballing the taut and bloated carcasses roasting in the October heat.

“I’m surprised there are that few reported,” Anja Raudabaugh, chief executive of Western United Dairies, a California dairy trade organization, said recently after being told the latest case number was 105. “This thing is not slowing down.”

A similar observation was made by Jimmy Andreoli II, spokesman for Baker Commodities, a rendering company with facilities in Southern California. He said his workers are picking up a surge of dead cows throughout the San Joaquin Valley.

“There’s definitely been an increased number of fallen animals lately, and some of that has got to be attributed to the long, hot summer we’ve had. And some of it, you know, certainly is attributed to the H5N1 virus,” he said, noting that one of his drivers picked up 20 to 30 animals at one farm in one day.

Andreoli said that at some farms the cows are intentionally being left on the roadside to reduce contamination — preventing further inter-farm spread. At others, the animals are left on-site — but away from live animals and people.

Despite the gruesome scene along the Tipton roadside, John Korslund, a retired U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian epidemiologist, said there was probably very little risk to public health in having the animals piled up — even if they were picked at and consumed by buzzards, ravens and flies.

I wonder if it ever passed his mind that buzzards, ravens and flies may be transition agents for the H5N1 plague that eventually transition to humans. That may explain why a large number of farm workers in that region are becoming infected with H5N1.