Re: [compost_tea] Mastitis

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 06:21:44 -0400

High population levels of disease Streptococcus species are a sign of a sick soil. These kinds of problems are definately encouragfed by soil so lacking in diversity that one or two strains of bacteria can "win".

This dominance didn't just happen overnight, it built over quite a few years. When a problem started to develop, instead of getting to the cause of the problem, people tried to mask the symptoms.

So, slowly but surely, the components of the foodweb were destroyed. Things just kept getting slightly worse, and slightly more difficult, until you are where you are today.

The whole foodweb needs to be put back. That is, not just bacteria, but beneficial fungi, ALL the protozoa, and the beneficial nematodes. Microarthropods will come along, as well, especially if you add some good worm compost.

We have worked with Gary Wegner of Natural Aeration for some time on dairy soils, lagoons, barn floors, (naturalaeration_at_circul8.com), and he has shown time and again that getting the conditions correct to grow the right biology results in all sorts of disease problems just "going away".

What drives me nuts is when USDA people monitoring the situation take sample after sample after sample, saying each time that there had to be something wrong with the lab tests that were done, because when the lagoon waste, the compost, or the soil was treated with Gary's system, the E. coli weren't present, or the fusarium was really low. Sigh. As far as I know, though, the USDA people have not monitored for streptococci, but Gary might be able to set me straight on that. Maybe he has those data too. Please contact Gary for that information, and for information on the system used get the reversal started.

In the US, you will need to do your own testing to document the changes in the habitat from what has developed, which is lacking oxygen, high nitrate (at least part of the year), and high amounts of animal waste material undigested in the soil.

In my experience, the academic community in New Zealand has not been bought out by large corporations as has happened in the US. When Monsanto can threaten Universities and have the Universities kowtow tells you just how bad things have gotten here in the US. Just keep an eye on the GMO debate. There's a great article in the news today about the whole fiasco -

Genetically Modified Morals--A Global Food Fight, by Kathleen McAfee
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0613-09.htm

But, back to solving problems in a way that is not going to destroy you financially -

Critical factors to understand are the environmental conditions that allow the disease Streptococcus species to out-compete other organisms in the soil.

So, now you understand why you can delete from your list of concerns the Streptocooci carried by birds, or snakes or even in your cat's mouths. Dispite all the insults we heap on the soil, they do not yet match the conditions in your cat's mouth. These Streptococci are not of concern.


The ones causing mastitis are, and you need to do some reading about those specific conditions. Let me warn you, the scientific literature doesn't have a great deal of information about that, because no private company has funded that research. Why would they? If you understand the conditions need to develop a problem, you can avoid the problem. No product sales if you understand what to do all on your own.

So, where to find the information? Go to your local University library and find Bergey's Manual of Bacteriology. Read about the habitats in which the disease Streptococci you are concerned about live. You are not going to buy Bergey's manual for your own shelf. Bergey's comes in a bunch of sections, like bacteria a to e in part 1, bacterial species F to M in part two, and so on. I think Bergey's manual is up to four parts now, and EACH part costs something like $300 to $500 US.

Visit the library. But University libray, not something the local lending library will carry either.

If I recall correctly (correct me if I'm not remembering correctly, ok?), selective factors for these bacterial streptococcus species are:

1. Reduced oxygen conditions. Yes, skin surfaces can have reduced oxygen conditions, if huge numbers of the bacteria are growing on the skin surface, using foods like milk residues, or manure waste residues splashed up from "soil" high in undecomposed manures. Rapid bacterial growth means reduced oxygen. That's why keeping things clean works - you wash away the foods the bacteria need. But if the udder keeps getting re-infected by splash from the "soil", it is a never-ending battle to keep things clean enough. Ends up being not-healthy for the cows.

2. High nitrate levels - Manure is high in nitrate, although some is being lost as the ammonia smell. But the steps to ammonia is through nitrate, so the conditions select for the disease organisms.

3. Un-digested sugars, proteins and short-chain, anaerobic organic acids in high concentrations. Again, in the manures and liquid sludge applied, these materials are in extremely high concentration. Even when lime is used to try to deal with the pH, this is a "symptom" cure, not a cure of the problem. If something is anaerobic, there's no fixing the long-term impact. Short term, maybe lime can wrench the pH around, but it will not continue to work through the rainy season. When the soil gets waterlogged, you can't add enough lime to stop the anaerobic organic acids from pushing pH into the acid range.

Through the years, as un-composted dairy waste was spread on the soil, and/or liquid waste was sprayed out, the conditions for the disease organisms built up. The typical soil organisms that built soil structure, and thus allowed the soil to have the air passageways, were killed off a few at a time. They DO NOT just "come back" because the conditions never return to what they need to survive. The conditions are perfectly balanced for disease streptococci, E. coli, fecal coliforms, fusarium, and other blights, wilts and root rots.

So, how to turn it around? Well, how far into the anaerobic mess is your soil? Just a bit, or really bad? Gind out by getting a soil sample done to determine the biology present. Do this now.

Once we know what biology is there, and how much needs fixing, then the program can be designed to get you going. We have to get the right biology to build the soil so oxygen can get into your soil. Set the stage for healthy organisms, not streptococcus, to grow.

You are lucky to have three good consultants in NZ to help you work on this. Please call SFI - New Zealand, in Cambridge, and/or check the SFI website for the SFI advisor nearest you.

Let us all know how it goes!

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com

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Received on Mon Jun 16 2003 - 13:59:03 EDT

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