Personal Injury Law

Feeding cattle with pet food risks Mad Cow Disease

Utah's ranchers got a stern warning yesterday from the state veterinarian: feeding cattle with pet food could cause Mad Cow Disease.   Dawn House at the Salt Lake Tribune reported  that high hay costs and burned out ranges could tempt some ranchers into using pet food linked to Mad Cow.

Some pet foods contain animal byproducts that if fed to beef or dairy cows pose the threat of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, says state veterinarian Earl Rogers.
"It is possible that some pet food manufacturers who have heard of the depletion of feed sources in Utah because of drought and fire may offer their scrap material to Utah ranchers," said Rogers. "Both buyers and sellers must know that any pet food containing cattle or other ruminant material cannot be fed to other cattle."
Feeding pet food to cattle, which is banned under state and federal law, could result in the slaughter of an entire herd, he said.

The Tribune went on to report that Utah officials are worried that some ranchers may be tempted to supplement cattle feed with banned material because often pet food is fed to swine and poultry.  Feed for cattle isn't suppose to contain certain ruminant protein from beef.

Mad Cow Disease, known in science as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, has struck 140 people in the United Kingdom and one person in the United States.  That person, however, was probably living in the UK when stricken.

Ranchers in the West this winter are dealing with some of the highest feed prices in history.  Drought and fire have also impacted their own productive capacities for the near future.

Full post as published by Mad Cow Blog on December 19, 2007 (boomark / email).