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Re: [SANET-MG] no smoking cow?



Hi Lawrence,
Your composted manure will, no doubt, be free of E. coli 0157. However, it is clear that healthy cattle frequently have E. coli in their intestines which does not cause them to have diarrhea or have any symptoms. E coli kills people but not cows because the human has a cell surface receptor on the cells of the gut that allow the bacteria to inject verotoxin into their cells, cows lack such those receptors. The healthy cattle could pick up E coli 0157 from a visit from the vet or from a neighbors car or truck. The point here is that healthy cow manure can leak E coli 0157 into the surface and groundwater. If you must farm for produce or fruit next door to a cattle farm then you should consider yourself to be at risk for the toxic bacteria and your farm operation could be in jeopardy. As I pointed out the fresh poop patrol is no real help. You will need to test the surface water near your property line if you can. The tests should be inexpensive and if you find E coli in the water you can send a lawyers letter to the cattle operator.There have been a number of fruit and produce farmers who have been smashed by the neighbors cow poop in the water. There are a number of agencies that provide E coli 0157 tests for around $25 but these normally have few days to finish the tests and respond.Companies such as :http://www.pro-lab.com/products-ecoli.php sell kits allowing you to do the tests, and they are very easy to do. If you spot a cow lurking in your neighbors yard it is no reason to pick up and move. However, if you have a large profitable produce or fruit operation it is wise to know before the customers get really sick or die. USDA or the state Ag department should really take up E coli 0157 testing near cattle farms next door to fruit or produce farms.
Hope my comments helped. sincerely, joe cummins
Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
jcummins wrote:
There seems to be a real effort to stop trying to pin the spinach outbreak on organic food. However, it is clear that organic farmers will have to steer clear of cows! It seems strange that fresh produce was being produced near cattle operations, it is strangely mindless. A number of outbreaks are associated with fruit and vegetable production near cattle pastures along with the pollution of municipal wells near cattle pastures.The latest outbreak seems to be inexcusable? A fresh poop patrol on the field will not help as much as a relatively quick and inexpensive ELISA test for E coli 0157 in the surface or irrigation water of the field. Farmers near cattle operations should split the cost of the tests with the cattle operator.

Spinach contamination linked to cattle feces

2006/10/14
Los Angeles Times

I just had 8 - 8 cu.yd. dumptruck loads of cow straw manure delivered for storage, weed removal, and future use. This is manure from a large pasture where the owner has put successive round hay bales under trees for his beef cattle to eat year round. The cows eat nothing but grass, weeds and hay, never any grain and deposit large quantities of manure on the hay from the round bales that gets spread over the ground in the area. As far as offsite N/biomass-compost sources is concerned, this is as good as it gets, lots of clean N, biologically active, already mixed with biomass for carbon, a single source of nitrogen and humus, good stimulus for years of food and cover crop production and soil improvement. I assume there will be no E coli 0157 in this manure unless it comes from some source other than his cows.


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