Let's cut through the media hype. Here's what you need to know about raw milk and avian influenza (also known as H5N1, bird flu, or HPAI).

Avian flu is a respiratory illness and NOT a foodborne illness.
There have been NO known cases of bird flu in humans from drinking raw milk.
There have been a small number of bird flu cases in farm workers working in direct contact with sick animals. Illness is generally mild, with conjunctivitis (pinkeye/eye inflammation) as main symptom.
In cattle, this illness is generally mild. Most of herd shows no signs of illness.
Ill cattle generally recover within a couple weeks. First symptom in cows is generally fever a few days prior to becoming clinically sick.
Symptoms include weakness, diarrhea, fever, lower milk production, poor appetite, and yellow-tinged, thick milk. Rarely, cattle can die from HPAI.
Affected cows respond well to drenching treatment with 5 gallons of water, antipyretic, probiotics, and a gut stimulant (i.e. yeast) for a few days.
HPAI directly affects the udder and milk production. Recovering animals may not fully regain milk production until next lactation.
In general, a dairy will move through bird flu and achieve “herd immunity” in ~6 weeks from start to finish.
Common sense precautions, just as for all other illnesses: Monitor your herd for illness. Quarantine animals who are ill and ensure that milk from unhealthy animals is NOT used for direct human consumption. Quarantine any new animals brought onto the farm to ensure they are healthy before joining the herd.

Here are some references for more detailed information:

https://www.rawmilkinstitute.org/updates/h5n1-avian-flu-and-raw-milk-where-is-the-evidence
https://www.colemanscientific.org/blog/2025/1/30/more-on-h5n1-and-cats-the-case-for-worrying
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08166-6
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00971