having lost over 20 cows in the last 8 weeks and no one coming up with any answers.I started asking my own in this area we have at least5 compost farms a river that floods and a factory on its banks.The grass samples are showing very high levels of potassium aluminium selenium sulphur iron any help please

What is the water supply? 

Have the cows just disappeared into the OCDS or have you been able to get any post mortems? What has your vet had to say about likely causes?  Any other pollution cases I have heard about always seem to be long drawn-out affairs simply because the big companies or councils always refuse to admit liabilty and can afford the best defence.

yes they are the same mains supply as the house yes we have had post mortums done our vets and the ministry vets have no answers another dead cow this week.no answer from enviroment dept .nothing showing on tests one had liver fluke but not to kill her.for some reason they are all having pefect healthy calves touch wood.i have lost some very good cows some look so ill.we are nearly living with them my wife checks them constantly it is so upsetting to see a cow go so ill so quickly.yet all the fat cattle are well and the stock bulls.any body know how I find out what goes into these compost farms and no we have never spread chicken muck or compost on any of our land.thanks for your help

fed up,

I've been contacted by another dairy farmer who's been through a similar experience, losing his best cows in a short space of time.

He'd like to offer you any help, advice and support that he can.

If you'd like to get in touch with him, please email me and I'll give you his details.

Kind regards,

Michael

please has anybody else got any ideas my dead cow count is nearly 30 and now its the calves 6 last week 6 this week to date last friday I had two knacker wagons in the yard at once seems the vets have no answers it seems apart from my cows/calves dying i have a very healthy herd.Apart from been tried spending 24/7 with them I am now so ill with worry its getting to the point its best to stop with them that way you are not worrying what I am going to find in the yards next time I look at them.looks like christmas dinner could be a picnic in the cow yards.any  ideas would be helpful

I am very sorry about your cow and calf problems. All I can recommend is going on www.cowtalk.co.uk

as there are some very switched on livestock farmers there who may be able to come up with some ideas.Worth a try I think.good luck.

Ric

many thanks for your reply i am going to check the site now while I have a coffee to get warm my sons even put the christmas lights on the cow shed so its looks like christmas dinner could be interesting we had better not be having beef

Sorry to hear your cattle are still dying you have my full sympathy, we lost our 150 cow 10500lt ave herd over the last 4 years, over 400 cattle in total, all due to some disease ridden mad limmys rampaging around the countryside, the annoying thing is which you will have found out, there is know where you can get help unless you have a  notifiable disease DEFRA do not want to know you so its all pay out for private help and then if you have to make a claim through your insurance company to cover the cost of what you have insured for, you have to fight the mafia the insurers have employed to make sure you never get paid, they work on the theory, "our pockets are bigger than yours and will remain so."

How can this government expect to make farmers pay for any diseases when they have cut out money on the disease help side, have an open door policy for imports and appear oblivious to the mafia style insurers who would make it damn near impossible for someone wiped out through foot and mouth to spend thousands of pounds over a number of years to claim their compensation, rant over.

 When five of your best 12000lt + cows die in front of you in one week it makes you realise how vulnerable you are no matter how good your bio security is, so hang on in there and l hope your cattle deaths abate.

Have your vets looked into the possibilty of Pasturella in your cows. ??

We have lost several and only got it confirmed last year.

many thanks again for your help sorry but have been almost living with the cattle these last two weeks so have not checked site.according to all the test results I seem to have a very healthy herd with no known infections of any kind infact my health status seems very good dam excellent infact.I still have no answers and you are quite right the gentleman who has lost so many cattle its no good looking for insurance or answers from the envioment agency but I must say the ministry vet and our own vets have been very concerned and doing all they can.but if it is an outside problem its finding the culpit and finding the item.but then can you do anything.seems not.

Have any of your neighbouring farms had similar problems? I would think if they dont that would rule out the wider environment, ie compost farms/factory. Have they tested for Salmonella? We had a few random deaths of healthy cows in our beef herd last summer, after a pm showed salmonella as cause of death we had to vaccinate. Also a possible source of anything nasty could be birds such as gulls or geese. Hope you get to the root of the problem soon.

thank you for your comments no we have tested for nearly everything, we are the only ones this side of the river with suckler cows for several miles each way. however we get a terrible amount of seagulls due to the composting and land fill tip one compost farm its fields can be covered in seagulls after spreading.The vets are coming out again this week 2 more cows down and 3 calves this week its so heart breaking the only thing wrong with them is they cant get up.I hate to say it but is it going to take me or my family to be taken ill like this before someone has some answers or failing that I have no money or cows left.its now 6 months since it started .

Hi Fed up, sorry to read about all your troubles. As your cows and calves are housed now have you thought about feeding them only on bought in feed. I know that would be expensive, but it may prove whether your grass is contaminated.

regards Jim

Hi Fed up, sorry to read about all your troubles. As your cows and calves are housed now have you thought about feeding them only on bought in feed. I know that would be expensive, but it may prove whether your grass is contaminated.

regards Jim

Hi Fed up, sorry to read about all your troubles. As your cows and calves are housed now have you thought about feeding them only on bought in feed. I know that would be expensive, but it may prove whether your grass is contaminated.

regards Jim

thanks for your suggestion jim tried that but they still go down we changed the straw hay silage and turn out fields I am starting to think it must be birds carrying something its so hit and miss its almost as if a cow stands in the wrong place at the wrong time but the one at the side of her is ok.Just waiting for vet to ring back about another cow going for Pm also the calf that has just died.Its funny but other cows are having perfectly  healthy calves two born this morning(touch wood my head will have to do)

Thank you all again for your suggestions it might just be one of them will be an answer

I  lost 6 cows last year in a few days, the cause was botulism, I vaccinated all my cattle, I lost 1 more cow a few days later and since then everything has been fine.

If I was you I'd get the press in get some publicity not the farming press but the Daily Mail and the like Television they all love bad news and it's probably the best way to get DEFRA to sit up and take note. I bet they'll shift their asses a great deal faster if they know the public is watching.

My other sugestion is milebinum poisoning I expect this has been investigated but thought I'd mention it was discussing it with a rep the other day and he said once you have it on your farm it's time to get rid of the cows.

Best Wishes DD

Hi dd

What is milebinum poisoning.

regards Jim

It's to do with the copper in the ground have heard differing views one that it locks up the copper and one that it poisons the available copper. I won't pretend to know a lot about it but as I say I was told it can be the difference between being able to farm cattle and not.

Regards DD

Thank you DD but no not that .but heres a problem they cut a cow up last week and guest what they found GUN SHOT PELLETS in her stomach some how she had eaten them over 20. Well no one shoots this farm  so heres the question how has a cow managed to eat so many pellets that are so small we are waiting test results for lead .vets are coming tomorrow to have another look round.will keep you informed please keep thinking as any help is appreciated

In case anyone is wondering, I think the new monibulin? disease mentioned above is actually Molybdenum excess causing a copper deficiency. Obviously not the cause in this case.

Hi Fed up

Have you upset any-one. Maybe you should get the pellets analysed,just to see whats in them.

regards Jim

Yes I have they are just lead shot ,come into the office out of the wind to read emails and calm down just shot a big heifer with a broken leg and now the wifes found her horse dead in the cow field.maybe I could go on sick leave for stress.I think the ministry are now asking for more help for testing soils etc.I am wondering if everyday is friday 13th