Living and Learning
Foreword: Valentine lost her battle. The way she struggled to survive showed me how genetically strong this brave little heifer was.
I dedicate this page and all my time researching the data contained in it to our Valentine.

My search for an answer to the lamb/calf problem has taken me where I imagined it would, and I'm mad at myself for not trying harder to convince Dick that the free food [barley waste from the local malting plant] was in fact very expensive. After being told that barley lacks gluten so it wouldn't cause bloat problems we became very casual in regard to the animals consuming it and basically allowed the livestock free access to it.

Last winter's lambing woes with us loosing over half the lambs had me first suspecting the barley, but all I found was that fed in conjunction with free access to hay is fine. The vet said that it was fine, everyone told us how lucky we were to have all this free feed. So it must be something else... but what else?

In my ignorance I underestimated the harm being done, it was the overgrown feet in the sheep that again set off alarm bells in my head, because we have never had any foot problems before, and Dick said that he had never trimmed sheep feet in all the years he has had them. So what was the difference? The only thing I could come up with was the barley, he argued that it was maybe the high protein making their hooves grow more quickly causing the problem and that we just needed to trim the hooves more often... it was ridiculous how quickly the hooves would be out of shape after trimming.

Next our little Milking Devon heifer calf Valentine started getting unwell, in retrospect I think it started after she escaped her paddock and pigged out on barley. After that she had a lot of weight loss and stopped growing... she's still not right but I'm working on her, she's alert and looks forward to her humans visiting her. A few people who know animals told us she was a dwarf and since her daddy is also her granddaddy and we once had an inbred calf who suffered from dwarfism, I believed it.

But the more I looked into it, the more I believed that we should have noticed something different about her sooner than we did, but after researching it I found that there are varying degrees of dwarfism, so I figured she mustn't have been as badly affected as our other calf had been.

Then Butterscotch [Rhianon's Jersey heifer calf] started to scour and loose condition. As with Valentine we were feeding her free choice hay, small amounts of barley and milk replacer. Rhianon was accused of neglecting her and Dick would feed her extra barley for the protein he said that she needed. We moved her into the barn with the sheep and goats and completely stopped feeding her barley, just milk replacer and a very small amount of calf starter. She almost immediately started putting on condition and stopped scouring. She's now 5 months old and showing no ill effects from the contact with the feed.

Then we had problems with calves, they are born really strong and healthy, then after a few weeks start going downhill, we have lost three calves this season, more than we have lost in the last five years. Next an 11 month old steer went down, he was castrated a few months ago and I suspect that he had problems getting to the hay after the procedure and pigged out on barley more than he generally would have. Over the last few weeks he has been getting progressively weaker. Dick thought the castration had caused his illness, but that was not the case.

Finally after the lambs deaths, the calf deaths and the steer going down and another calf looking like she only had a few days left before she would die too, Dick agreed that there was something really wrong and called the vet. That was a waste of time and money, all he did was tell us what was not wrong with the steer... he didn't have a fever, so it wasn't an infection, no sign of pneumonia, the castration wound had healed nicely, so it wasn't that, there were several other things that the vet told us he didn't have... all the vet concluded was that his rumen wasn't working and he was lame [classic signs of what I finally diagnosed].

According to the vet the calf who was ill possibly had pneumonia because she was grinding her teeth and looked very droopy [more classic symptoms of the same disease]. But he didn't put a stethoscope anywhere near her to listen to her lungs or rumen.

The sheep were lame, but even after seeing about half our flock the vet didn't notice this fact [another symptom of the disease].

The vet was shown the feed, we explained it was not always the same and I asked if it could be the cause of our problems. I was assured that it was "good feed" and nothing in it could cause the animal losses we were experiencing. This is the one redeeming feature of this whole ugly story; another "expert" telling us that it was good feed... I asked him if it was wise to allow them free access to it, he again reassured me that if they also have free access to hay [which they do] there would be no problems because "ruminants will self regulate".

I was not satisfied with his answers; since he had none... all he told us was what was not wrong. So all that afternoon and until after midnight I searched on the Internet as I had done many times since suspecting the barley. All my old searches had never found any definite problems but by adding one word to my search I found more information than I needed... the word was "acidosis".

I spoke to the vet on the phone the next day telling him that I suspected "sub-acute acidosis" in the sheep somehow affected the unborn lambs and then they failed sometime after birth when their own organs had to really start working... couldn't be acidosis he told me, if the sheep had acidosis they would be lame. BINGO! I told him that the sheep had been lame on and off for over a year. Then he agreed that this may be our problem.

I then told him that I believed that was what was wrong with the calves... he agreed that they might in fact have acidosis [what a genius]. A few other points that he argued about I managed to make him see it the other way when I pointed out discrepancies. I couldn't convince him that barley in itself is a potential hazard, he kept telling me that it is "no different to other small grains". It was only after I got off the phone that I had the answer to that... why is barley used in brewing? Because it ferments quicker of course, and it's that fermentation that was partially responsible for our animal losses...

After talking to the vet on the phone and having him reassure me that the dry feed we had wouldn't cause problems and it was only the wet stuff that was of concern and also reassuring me that the problems would only occur when we got a load of screenings with a higher ratio of whole barley, I again went off in search of answers. What I found was the exact opposite to what he told me.

The dry screening not only are associated with acidosis when fed even in small amounts they also cause stomach ulcers in hogs... the wet stuff is almost as bad because any processing of barley beyond simply rolling the grain produces a mix that ferments more quickly. Whole barley grains are so poorly digested that they cause very few problems... as we have seen for ourselves when it goes straight through the cows looking the same as when it went in...

My latest theory on the lambs which I will test when the next ones are born is that the sub-acute acidosis suffered by the sheep has their blood PH way out of balance, I had theorized that this was doing irreversible damage to the organs of the fetus, upon thinking more at 2AM one morning I had the hopeful thought that maybe the lambs blood is slightly too acid but that there may be some treatment, then yesterday morning I heard from a lurker from an email list about Floppy Kid Syndrome and how she treats it with bi-carb. That's my next course of action.

Another thing that kept coming up was thiamine deficiencies induced by acidosis, so I went off on another search. This brought me to the realization that in human terms some of our animals may have beriberi. So I bought some B-complex vitamins for the sick animals and we are presently treating our little Valentine with it. A bit of good news about Valie, this morning when we went down to the barn she had moved about 20 ft from where we left her. There were no signs that she had dragged herself that distance so she may have walked. We are very hopeful that she will not only survive but also get a lot better.

Our free feed cost us $12,000 for the trailers we use to pick it up, at least five calves, a steer, maybe another calf [but I think she's alright], who knows what damage to our breeding stock, more lambs that I care to recall, and possibly our sweet little Valentine and almost my peace of mind.

I felt as though a dark cloud was always hovering around with doom ready to strike, I feared going to the barn, I feared any new animals being born, I was at the point where the simple city life was starting to look good. But now I am at ease for the first time in about a year... I'm ready to go forward, accept that we screwed up big time and hope to get things in order and all the surviving animals back to health.

END of my story.
Addendum: Boots the calf who was close to death when the vet came is finally starting to grow again. But another one of the calves is suffering ill effects that I believe could be from a result of his body chemistry being out of balance, he has cataracts on both eyes and is failing to thrive.

Addendum #2: The return of my peace of mind was but for a fleeting moment... Every time I look at barley residue I see death, I wake at night thinking of all the lambs I have tried to save this past winter. The count is 23 dead 9 alive, four of the living lambs are from my Cotswold sheep which being new to the farm had ingested very little barley. So looking at the statistics on our original flock we have 23 dead and 5 survivors, with more sheep still to lamb I'm wishing the spring away.

The more I look into the horrors of this substance the more nauseated I become. Last year we had a calf who seemed alright at birth but at about a month of age his right rear foot became disconnected, just hanging there, the first day the bone seemed to hold it in place but a couple of days later the foot was hanging by just the flesh on the back of his leg. We had no idea what could have caused such an injury, and then when his other foot disconnected too it seemed very odd [to say the least]. We tried to make him comfortable while wondering what could be done with such an injured animal and mercifully he died. Early this year we had almost the same scenario with a kid, she has lost her left rear foot and her right rear foot is dying. We have several kids with ears tips falling off too, chickens with toes falling off and baby pigs born dead and rotting. The explanation for many of these ailments might be molds and fungi.

Addendum #3: A new problem possibly related to the molds in the wet malted product arose recently. We have several pairs of Canada geese, mostly free flying birds who come and go between here and Lake Winona, but we have two pinioned breeding females. One of these has never hatched an egg since we got her four years ago but the other one has hatched babies every breeding season that we have had her. The first year she hatched four out of five eggs, the second year seven out of nine, but this year she only hatched three out of ten. The first two years the unhatched eggs were infertile, this year one or two of her eggs may have been infertile but the others were partly developed then died, a thing we have never seen happen before. One fairly wild free flying female incubated five out of six of her eggs, the other one was fully formed but just didn't make it out of the egg. Another free flying female who is like a pet and doesn't leave the farm as often as the wilder ones deserted her nest, she had two unfertilized eggs, one that died along the way, and two viable eggs which we put in our incubator; one hatched the other one didn't make it. Last year she hatched four out of five eggs. A wilder sister to this goose hatched four out of five eggs.

We have been incubating and selling chicken eggs for four years, our hatch rate is normally at least 85%, but last year we were lucky to get a 50% rate. Our egg quality wasn't as good as usual with some reports of runny eggs. We are very particular about the age of the eggs we sell, anything older than a few days is fed to the pigs so I am unsure as to how we ended up selling eggs that weren't very good. Maybe it was something that happened in storage at the consumer's home, but I do know that I had no reports of bad eggs previously. I did not encounter any runny eggs myself, and we use the eggs that have been on our "Eggs For Sale" shelf for a few days [just before they would normally go to the pigs] so I tend to put the blame with the consumer. Hopefully that is the case, but in the meantime I am not selling eggs while my hens have access to this molded grain. We will eat some ourselves keeping a watch on the quality while the rest are pig and chick feed.

Addendum#4: ERGOT... Now some of you may have heard of the relationship between ergot and the Salem Witch Hunt, and other such human tragedies, it's fascinating reading. The most recent case to affect human health on a large scale was in France in 1951 when an unscrupulous farmer sold infected rye to and equally unscrupulous miller, who in turn sold it to a baker, the result 4 dead, 32 cases of insanity and around 200 others with somewhat milder symptoms. One man suffering from insanity induced by the ergot broke out of seven consecutive straightjackets, and had to be strapped to a bed with heavy cowhide belts. He broke out all of his teeth biting through the straps, jumped from a three storey window and ran half a mile on two broken legs before they wrestled him down. He had visions that huge tigers were chasing him.

The symptoms of ergot poisoning in animals include hyperexcitability, belligerence, ataxia or staggering, lying down, convulsions and backward arching of the back, another nasty symptom can be gangrene of the extremities of the animal including the nose, ears, tail, and limbs. This I believe explains our calf with the rear feet falling off, the kid with one foot gone and the other one partly gone, looking very similar to these before falling off. It also explains why over half our kids and most of the claves born around the same time as the ones who died have ears like this or worse. Last year we also had two does with black mastitis, a form of gangrene that Dick has never seen before, both lost an udder and now you can hardly even see that they used to have two. Their kids have a problem finding the teat since it points straight down on the middle instead of out to the side as their instincts tell them. I have no idea whether this was related in any way to the mycotoxins in the barley; directly as in the calves and kids or indirectly because the animals' metabolisms were so out of balance.

Another puzzling affliction in one of our bull calves is that he developed cataracts during winter, at first Dick suspected "pink-eye" but this is generally a contagious fly borne condition and since there are no flies in Minnesota in winter and none of our animals has this we had no idea how he could contract it. I suspected the barley but didn't understand the mechanism, however this website along with others, lists ergot as a cause of cataracts. Doc the boar belonged to a neighbor, he had visited us once before for a few months and was a friendly gentle animal with no vices except that he ate like a pig. He had always lived in harmony with the sows and piglets on our neighbor's farm and we never encountered any problems with him either. Since we needed a boar we bought him when he was no longer needed on the other farm. Because he was such a docile animal we were very perplexed when we saw him attack a sick calf, sending her tumbling down a bank, he also bit at the cows. For this offence we locked him in solitary confinement and let him out a few days later. He seemed very agitated and later that day he attacked and killed a piglet and went after other animals. We considered locking him away and putting the sows with him when they were on heat, or selling him; neither option seemed to be worth the risk so he was executed for his crimes. Poor Doc, it had never occurred to me that he too may have been suffering the effects of mycotoxins, but since he became unstable at the same time as calves and kids were developing symptoms of ergotism I now believe that he must have ingested enough of this to have sent him insane. I feel very lucky that he only attacked other animals, a 700lb insane boar could be an extremely dangerous beast.

This makes me wonder how many farmers attacked and killed by their animals are victims of ergot poisoning.

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Now for a few thoughts about human health that came to me as I spent most of my spare waking hours for over a week, then many hours for months afterwards online researching our animal problems.

HEART DISEASE & CANCER... the American plagues.

Is some of it caused by the way we feed our livestock? Many other countries grass-feed their cattle and sheep... do they have lower rates of cancer? From what I have seen since arriving here there is a much higher incidence of it here than in Australia, where I could number on one hand the people I knew who had any form of cancer...

The Omega 3 in grass fed milk is so much higher than milk from grain fed cows [who sometimes only live two lactations, because of the ill effects of their diet]. Grass fed beef is actually good for you, it has 4 times the vitamin E of grain fed beef and a lot more Omega 3... both anti-cancer agents. There is over 320 times the amount of E-coli in grain fed beef than pasture fed beef with E-coli numbers also being much higher in milk from grain fed cows as opposed to pasture fed cows. It is amazing to me what crap [literally] is fed to livestock, it stuns me to see that the livestock business in general accepts sick animals as being normal. If our animals are all sick, with many suffering sub-acute acidosis and being fed baking soda or antibiotics just to keep them alive and producing long enough to keep the obscene bottom line balanced. There are similar findings with naturally fed and raised chickens, turkeys, pigs and eggs.

Whoever you believe put this marvelous planet and it's inhabitants together had a great system, cows and sheep ate grass, chickens scratched around and ate bugs and plants... the Maker never intended for calves to eat poultry manure, or cattle to eat the crushed bones of their own kind, along with pulverized remains of other animals, Fido for example. What sick individuals come up with these dumb ideas?

My Gran would say "you are what you eat" and since we are supposedly at the top of this obscene food chain what are we?

I need to think of something different but every corner I turn makes me need to find more answers...

Human Health Addendum: I believe that my own health is suffering due to inhaled Mycotoxins. I really don't recall the last day that I felt well, looking back over my journal tells me that it was over a year and a half ago. I do know that two years ago I was feeling on top of the world, I had lots of energy, suffered little pain, slept well and on top of that I felt good inside.

Here is a list of some of the short term health effects from exposure to Mycotoxins:

headaches	chills	fever
nausea	sore throat	coughing
congestion	skin rashes	skin lesions
nose bleeds	fatigue	depression
diarrhea	blood in feces	blood in urine
abdominal pain	altered breathing	altered immunity

I have suffered from most of them and many are increasing in intensity and severity. Several other family members have chronic coughs, frequent headaches and we are all getting viral infections a lot more frequently than ever before.

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SOIL LIFE:

Another less firmly based thought that has occurred to me, which may be [and I hope it is] way off base; the possibility of damage to the health of the soil and microbes living in the soil. Many people fail to see the importance of microbial life, but it is what our food chain is built upon, whether we are vegans of omnivores all our food is based on the soil. Healthy soil is a wondrous living thing, with many trace elements necessary for healthy life. Artificial fertilizers kills many of the microbes and makes the soil little more than a dead mediam for holding the roots of plants. These plants are on life support, so unhealthy that without our chemicals; fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, they would have difficulties growing to maturity and producing a good crop.

My concern with the barley residue with regard to soil life is due mainly to a huge dead patch where barley and hay sat for a few months. The sheep and goats would eat there, so manure and urine was a part of the mix. About a year ago the residue was all removed and nothing grew there last summer, now well into spring there is still no sign of life on this patch. I dug there recently and could find no signs of earthworms, the soil looks dead, similar to a neighbor's old corn field which has been used and abused for about 50 years.

We have a lot of barley mixed in with our latest compost pile and it seems very different to our old piles, there seems to be less microbial activity as it isn't heating as much as the others did, it smells bad and has lots of molds and fungis growing in and on the pile. Time will tell whether or not the barley in the compost is in any way bad for plant growth. This year's vegetable garden has the first finished compost with barley as an ingredient, so we will know fairly soon how well things grow in it.

I was talking to an expert on composting recently as I was concerned that the high acidity level of the brewers grains could lead to poor composting due to the inability of microbes to flourish, but he assured me that he had composting these materials with good results. I hope he is right otherwise we may end up with thousands of cubic yards of bad compost. I want to believe him, but one thing he told me made me dubious. When referring to composting thousands of tons of barley he said "There is nothing bad in nature." While I agree with the statement itself I do not agree that thousands of tons of barley are natural. Where in nature would you get such a volume of grain? Grains have been "improved" by man down the ages, and in nature none would be left in a pile for nature to deal with. When there is wet grain there is mold, sure this is nature's method of dealing with such an event, however many molds are toxic to man, beast and microbes and for such a huge concentration of molds to exist are way beyond Mother Nature's plan.

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I wish I knew when this would all end... do we have animals affected by the ergot but not yet showing the symptoms? Are there still patches of ergot within the compost pile that the pigs might unearth and consume enough to develop ergotism? I doubt that, but one never knows. Will our health improve now that the moldy grain is all mixed in with other compostable materials? I hope so. Will our afflicted calves survive and grow to healthy maturity? Time will tell on this one, one calf in particular is addicted to the barley and anywhere it is she finds it, this should no longer be a problem but she is so stunted and sickly that I don't hold out a lot of hope for her.

On a more positive note; Sedgwick our Milking Devon bull calf no longer has what we call a "barley face". After spending time with Valentine and Autumn after he arrived here Sedgwick became addicted to barley, he developed a stunted, fat-faced appearance similar to, but not as bad as Valentine. Looking back at photos and comparing her to other heifers the same age I see that Autumn was slightly affected too. Now that they have been exclusively grass/hay fed for six months both of them look perfect. Three months ago Sedgwick was a lot smaller than another bull calf about the same age, but now he has almost caught up to him.

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Valentine
A pictorial memorial to our little Valentine, who died because of our ignorance, but will forever live in our hearts.

Just arrived.

Her first bottle.

Making friends.

Home in the garage.

Spring arrived at last!

The daily walk.

On most days Valentine followed her "mothers" on their daily walk half a mile down the field, this strange procession had many motorists slow down or stop as they drove by. I'm sure she brought pleasure to them, just as she did to us. She will be sadly missed.

Valentine and her half sister Autumn were our first Milking Devons. This breed is listed with The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy as being critically rare. We now have seven cows, eight heifers, a bull and three bullcalves, and are working to help conserve rare breed farm animals, while raising grass fed beef.

Some links to a little of the information regarding food and health that I have found online:

ANIMAL HEALTH:

"As the common name, grain overload suggests, the condition is a sudden intake of too much grain or concentrate. This high level of grain causes a change in the rumen acidity and bacteria population. The increase in acid causes an inflammation of the rumen wall (ruminitis) and a reduction of bacteria needed to digest fibre. Symptoms may include depression, animals off feed, bloat, founder (stiffness, or tender feet), scours and occasionally death. Occasionally lambs develop a thiamine (B vitamin) deficiency (polio) due to the inability of rumen to produce adequate thiamine in the highly acidic environment. Very often animals are treated for the symptoms, and the cause is overlooked." http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/agdisaster/droughtsheepacidosis.html

The following site points out that "Over-processed grains can lead to acidosis." http://www.ruralni.gov.uk/livestock/sheep/technical_information/sheep_production/feeding.htm "The starch in barley ferments rapidly compared to other cereal grains (Figure 1). Grains with more rapid rates of starch digestion require a higher degree of management in high concentrate finishing rations since the occurrence of acidosis and related metabolic disorders is greater with grains that ferment more quickly (Stock and Britton, 1993)."

http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/ansci/sheep/eb71w.htm"The starch in barley ferments rapidly compared to other cereal grains (Figure 1). Grains with more rapid rates of starch digestion require a higher degree of management in high concentrate finishing rations since the occurrence of acidosis and related metabolic disorders is greater with grains that ferment more quickly (Stock and Britton, 1993)."

http://www.afns.ualberta.ca/Hosted/WCDS/Proceedings/2000/Chapter11.htm"Subclinical acidosis is estimated to cost the U.S. dairy industry between $500 million to $1 billion a year (Donovan 1999). A case study of a 500-cow dairy in New York State estimated the financial impact of subclinical acidosis due to lost income at $400 to $475 U.S. per cow per year (Stone 1999). While no figures are available on the cost of subclinical ruminal acidosis for the Canadian dairy industry, there is no reason to believe that the losses per cow are any less than experienced in the U.S."

In so many studies I have read, the only concern expressed about sub-clinical acidosis and other diet induced illnesses in livestock is related to how much it costs the industry, not how much each animal suffers.

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this? If so please email me and tell me that I'm not alone.

If I ever have to see another beautiful animal die an agonizing death as did one of our steers, or a slow lingering death like our little Valentine did it will be too soon. I don't understand how a farmer can watch animals in pain, knowing he caused that pain and not want to make his animals lives better.

All I was looking at was acidosis, but I have accidentally stumbled across so much more while trying to work out what is causing other problems with our animals. Molds are a major problem in feed, they can cause a myriad of illnesses not only in ruminant animals [which we had until recently believed were the only ones being harmed by the feed] but also in monogastric animals.

http://web.vet.cornell.edu/CVM/HANDOUTS/plants/Mycotoxins.htm This site tells of the dangers of mycotoxins, and how even non-toxic molds can produce toxins in damp or damaged feed.

http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/AgrEnv/ndd/health/MYCOTOXINS_IN_FEED_AND_FOOD_PRODUCING_CROPS.html "Mycotoxins in feed have been implicated in health and performance problems in poultry. Since the potential for this problem exists in Texas, poultrymen should be aware of the poultry health problems associated with certain toxins and implement procedures to minimize mycotoxin contamination and/or damage to flock health.
Symptoms of mycotoxin damage are broad and resemble those of many disease and nutrition problems. Those attributed to mycotoxins include liver and kidney damage; leg, bone and heart abnormalities; coccidiosis outbreaks; enteritis; and hemorrhages and bruises. A reduction in the resistance to diseases has been shown in young birds consuming mycotoxins. The effectiveness of vaccines has also been reduced. Less resistance to stress and reduced growth, as well as reduced egg production and hatchability, are primary symptoms of mycotoxin contamination. Other effects include increased morbidity and mortality."

http://wildlife.usask.ca/english/backNewsLetters/NewsVol2No2.htm#poisoning "Approximately 50 lesser Canada geese with impacted crops were reported from southeastern Saskatchewan during the fall 1993. The first was found September 23 near the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border by a conservation officer of Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management. This bird was emaciated and weak. The condition was then recognized in hunter-shot geese by operators of 2 plucking/cleaning stations near Last Mountain Lake and the Quill Lakes. Carcasses were submitted to the CCWHC by members of the Canadian Wildlife Service. The last case, on October 28, was an emaciated goose observed being attacked by a bald eagle and then shot by a hunter. In total 22 lesser Canada geese were necropsied, all with similar findings. Body conditions of these birds varied from very good to severe emaciation. Lesions in the crop and lower esophagus varied from multifocal necrosis of the mucosa with inflammation, to extensive ulceration and fibrosis. In some cases, lesions extended into the surrounding the esophagus. Crops and esophagi were distended with grain and small quantities of aquatic vegetation but, in most cases, there was no ingesta in the lower gastrointestinal tract. The mycotoxin, HT-2, was identified at concentrations between 0.53 and 1.72 g/g in 4 of 10 crop samples analyzed. This toxin is most commonly produced by species of Fusarium fungi growing on waste grain under cool and damp conditions. Consumption of HT-2 contaminated grain is thought to have caused esophageal necrosis and inflammation which resulted in impaction. Dr. Trent Bollinger, CCWHC Western/Northern Region."

http://wildlife.usask.ca/english/backNewsLetters/NewsVol1No3.htm#empoisonnement "Mycotoxins produced by these fungi can cause clinical disease or death in animals and man. Waterfowl consume large amounts of grain during fall migration and on wintering grounds, and are potentially exposed to high levels of mycotoxins. Mortality of free-flying waterfowl due to ingestion of mycotoxins is reported only occasionally on wintering areas in the southern United States. In two separate areas of Texas, approximately 500 snow geese and 7,000 ducks died after ingesting a mycotoxin called aflatoxin. An estimated 9,500 sandhill cranes are thought to have died after ingesting mycotoxin-contaminated, moldy peanuts in Texas and New Mexico. Mycotoxicosis has not been reported in free-flying waterfowl in Canada."

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/pigs/4447.html "The fungi that produce aflatoxins (Aspergillus flavus and A parasiticus) most commonly grow during storage of summer crops (maize, peanuts and sorghum) but wheat and barley can also be affected. Typically, aflatoxin poisoning occurs on small farms that mix their feeds from home-grown grain. Failure to dry grain, or moisture condensation and accumulation favour the growth of moulds, which is accompanied by heating these moulds grow best at 30-40 degrees. Aflatoxins can be produced within 2-6 weeks and signs of poisoning of pigs may be noticed within a week of it being introduced to the diet. The clinical signs of aflatoxin poisoning are not characteristic. Pigs go off their feed and some may die, some are anaemic (pale) and jaundiced (yellowish in colour). Characteristic damage is caused to the liver, that can be detected when it is examined post mortem, and a diagnosis of aflatoxin poisoning is confirmed when the feed and tissues from dead animals are analysed at a laboratory."

http://msucares.com/livestock/swine/diet.html "Mycotoxins are produced by certain types of molds. If these molds invade feed ingredients, they may produce toxic compounds that contaminate feed. Molds can infect grain standing in the field as well as during harvesting, handling, and storage. Although over 200 mycotoxins have been identified, only a few are believed to influence swine performance. Risk from mycotoxin-contaminated feeds depends on the age and health of the pig and level of toxin in the feed. The most severe effect is death, but low levels of mycotoxin can depress pig performance and general well-being. When pigs consume diets containing a harmful mycotoxin, the toxin can affect the pigs nervous system, liver, kidney, immune system or reproductive process. Aflatoxin, zearalenone and tricothecene (vomitoxin and T-2 toxin) are the most frequently reported mycotoxin in feed. There is more information available about aflatoxin and its effect on pig performance than any other toxin. Each toxin is produced by a different mold. The conditions that promote growth of molds vary, although high moisture and warm temperatures are the primary requirements for mold growth on feedstuffs."

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2002/pig2002/paper02.htm"Fusarium mycotoxins require lower temperatures for growth than the Aspergillus species, hence they are associated with cereals in temperate countries. The most common fusarium mycotoxins are zearalenone, vomitoxin, the fumonisins, T-2 toxin and fusaric acid.

Fusarium Poisoning
Causes of Fusarium poisoning include:
purchase of mouldy, damp or badly stored grains
mixing of contaminated and uncontaminated grains
holding cereals in moist, damp conditions
allowing grains to heat
prolonged usage of feed bins, feed bridging across the bin and development of moulds
placing moist warm compounded feeds into bins
poorly maintained bins that allow water to leak in
the bridging of feed in bins over long periods of time and their sudden descent
prolonged use of automatic feeders and retention of mouldy feed.
Zearalenone is the most important fusarium mycotoxin produced. It is an oestrogenic toxin - it mimics the effects of the female hormone, oestrogen. At high concentrations (1-30 ppm) it can interfere with ovulation, conception, implantation and foetal development. In pregnant sows it can increase the incidence of abortions and still births, reduce litter size and piglet viability. It may increase the weaning to service interval.
Young gilts are most sensitive, with concentrations as low as 0.5 to 1 ppm causing pseudo-oestrus and vaginal or rectal prolapse."

http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/livestock/dairy/herd/food/mico1.html "Watch these potential pitfalls
Mycotoxins tend to be concentrated in the red dog, husk, light grains, and broken kernels. Mycotoxins may be as much as five times higher in the screenings compared to the grain. This may be a year to be extra careful feeding "grain screenings".
Mycotoxin contaminated wheat that may be used in the fermentation industry poses a potential problem. The fermentation process does not break down the mycotoxins. Mycotoxin concentration increases in the distillers by-products. Check your source of distillers grains for the type of grain used."

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HUMAN HEALTH:

http://www.eatwild.com/"Eat Wild features comprehensive, up-to-date information about the benefits of raising animals on pasture. As you will see by exploring the site, raising animals on pasture is a win-win-win-win situation. Pasture-based farming is: better for the Animals, better for the Farmer, better for the Environment and better for your Health."

http://www.sierraclub.org/e-files/grassfed.asp "The vast majority of American cattle today finish their lives away from pasture, confined to crowded feedlots and fed a steady diet of grain -- namely, corn."

http://www.all-organic-food.com/beef4.htm"Similar ratios are also found in all grain-fed versus grass-fed livestock products. Grassfed products are rich in all the fats now proven to be health-enhancing, but low in the fats that have been linked with disease."

http://www.mercola.com/beef/main.htm"The fat content of beef is the primary reason it has lost ground as a respectable entrée on America's dinner table. Not only do most beef cuts have a high fat content, ranging from 35-75%, but the majority of it is saturated. Grain fed beef can have an omega 6:3 ratio higher than 20:1 This well exceeds the 4:1 ratio where health problems begin to show up because of the essential fat imbalance. Also grain fed beef can have over 50% of the total fat as the far less healthy saturated fat. Grass fed beef has an omega 6:3 ratio of 0.16 to 1 This is the ratio science suggests is ideal for our diet. This is about the same ratio that fish has. Grass fed beef usually has less than 10% of its fat as saturated. If you are a pregnant or breastfeeding mom, the extra omega 3 from the grass fed beef will provide incredible nutritional benefits for your child."

http://www.westonaprice.org/farming/splendor.html
"And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be satisfied." Deut 11:15

http://www.iger.bbsrc.ac.uk/igerweb/pressreleases/2002/17July02no3.htm"We believe that this major difference in colour shelf-life is the effect of a natural anti-oxidant (vitamin E), which is present in grass, and is delivered to the meat," said Dr Scollan. "When fed on grass, cattle take in around 15 times more vitamin E per day than they do on a typical concentrate diet, and levels in the meat can be between two and three times higher as a result."
"The new findings provide further evidence of the advantages of rearing beef within production systems that place greater reliance on grass and other forages. Work by the IGER team has already linked forage-feeding with raised levels of beneficial omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in beef. Meanwhile other studies are investigating claims that grass-fed beef also has a flavour advantage. Taken together, these benefits represent an opportunity"

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