How now downed cows? Cattle in video died from poisoning in Italy, not COVID-19 shots in U.S.

A video that pans over a field of cattle, some of which appear to be dead, is old and wasn’t filmed in the United States. But a recent social media post suggests otherwise. 

"Cattle drop dead within 24 hours from government-sponsored cattle CV19 mRNA vaccine," says a narrator in the video shared June 4 on Instagram. He then went on to connect the scene to philanthropists George Soros and Bill Gates, the White House and Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

 "The vaccine pushed by billionaires and pharmaceuticals alike is said to prevent coronavirus in cattle but the result of this test batch of bovine didn’t go as planned," the video said. "Surprisingly, the press offices for the White House, Bill Gates, Fauci and Soros are not returning calls. Texas officials immediately put out a statement — they will not be vaccinating cows under any government experimental vaccination plan or if pushed to do so by law."

The words "breaking news" crawl along the bottom of the video where an image of a man wearing a cowboy hat also appears. He’s labeled "Johnny G Texas" and the story is advertised as an "exclusive."

The video also features images of Bovilis coronavirus, a bovine coronavirus vaccine, and letterhead for Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

We found the footage had been posted online Aug. 8, 2022, by Corriere della Sera, a daily newspaper in Milan. An English translation of the headline says: "50 cows die in a few minutes poisoned by sorghum." 

Featured Fact-check

YourNewsWire.com

stated on August 21, 2018 in in a blog post

"California lawmakers are planning to push free abortion pills on all students across the state as part of a ‘super progressive’ new policy."

Agence France-Presse reported that drought caused the acute prussic acid poisoning on a farm in Sommariva del Bosco, near Turin in northwest Italy. 

Looking on the Texas Department of Agriculture’s website for a statement like the one described in the video, we found only one, from April 3, when Miller said his agency was "working towards developing a fact and science-based assessment of the risks associated" with mRNA vaccines for livestock. 

Johnny G Texas, meanwhile, is a self-described "conservative skit creator, comedian and actor." His Facebook page describes his content as "news mixed with parody." 

We rate claims that this video shows cattle killed by COVID-19 vaccines False.