August 16, 2010

Australian cattle died of botulism

Nine cattle in Australia's New South Wales north coast have died in two separate outbreaks of botulism poisoning.

Livestock Health and Pest Authority vet Matt Ball has warned farmers to keep cattle out of freshly fertilised paddocks for at least three weeks if poultry litter is used. He said that disposing of dead cattle by deep burial is better than burning the carcases.

"Cattle are attracted to ash and unfortunately in this case the fire hadn't been able to get right underneath the carcase, and so it left ash and some still-decaying carcase. And then in the second outbreak associated with access to a poultry litter pile, and also because there is that feed within it, they will actually eat the matter, and not only is that against the law, sadly they can die from botulism," Ball said.