(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association is urging Iowa lawmakers to include money for development of vaccines for bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease in next year’s state budget. Kelli Klink is director of government relations for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association.

“If we want affordable beef on our grocery store shelves, we must do everything we can do to protect our livestock,” Klink said. Foot-and-mouth disease is a fast-spreading viral disease that primarily affects cows and other animals with split hooves, like pigs and sheep. Foot-and-mouth disease has been eradicated from North America, but livestock producers are concerned it could arrive in the U-S in a shipment of livestock from another country.

Since 2024, bird flu has been detected in 13 dairy herds in Iowa. Joel Harris is C-E-O of Genvax Technologies in Ames, which received a state 250-thousand dollar grant last year to support its research into a bird flu vaccine. He says the virus has been the most significant animal disease event in U.S. history. “In Iowa alone, millions of chickens and turkeys have been depopulated to stop the spread, costing farmers, straining rural communities and impacting food prices,” Harris said.

“Investing in foreign animal disease preparedness, especially vaccine development, is one of the most cost-effective tools we have. It helps protect Iowa farmers, reduces the need for mass depopulations, strengthens biosecurity and keeps our food supply stable and affordable.” Harris made his comments during a recent online forum with Governor Kim Reynolds. The governor says she gets a monthly update from the U-S-D-A about bird flu.

“It is critical we figure out how to get in front of this,” Reynolds said. Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are part of a bipartisan group of senators that have called on the U-S-D-A to speed up its review of the agency’s avian flu vaccine strategy for poultry. Last February, U-S Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a billion dollar plan to address the ongoing outbreak of bird flu — and it included 100 million dollars for research into a bird flu vaccine and other potential treatments.