Summary

A new H5N1 bird flu variant has become “endemic in cows,” with cases detected in Nevada and Arizona, raising concerns about human transmission.

Experts warn that without intervention, the outbreak will continue, but Trump has cut CDC staff and halted flu vaccination campaigns.

The virus’s spread coincides with a severe flu season, increasing the risk of mutation.

The administration has also stopped sharing flu data with the WHO and shifted its containment strategy away from culling infected poultry, raising fears of inadequate response.

  • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 hours ago

    it’s not mostly kernels. livestock are fed the entire plant, and the kernels are a slim minority of the weight.

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      48 minutes ago

      Weight matters not even a little compared to the caloric content. If cows got more calories out of corn stalks than corn kernels, then they wouldn’t even finish growing the corn and would just feed them stalks. The fact you have to grow a corn stalk that weighs hundreds of times more than the kernels doesn’t mean the kernels aren’t what the farmers are after for livestock feed purposes. The stalk just gets tossed in for efficiency’s sake because the cows can also digest it.

      • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        33 minutes ago

        The stalk just gets tossed in for efficiency’s sake because the cows can also digest it.

        you literally don’t know anything about feeding cows. just stop.

      • NSRXN@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        34 minutes ago

        . If cows got more calories out of corn stalks than corn kernels, then they wouldn’t even finish growing the corn and would just feed them stalks.

        I don’t think so. they may get more calories from silage, but they prefer the kernels, which would help the feed go down easier.

        • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          22 minutes ago

          You’re accusing me of not knowing how cows are fed when you’re inventing a world where farmers spend extra time growing crops to make it taste nicer to cows. Be real.