lions and tigers and arsenic oh boy

[DL]

There was a lot of discussion on the bovine practitioners list about arsenic toxicity and poisoning of cattle recently - so I thought I would pass on some of the tidbits

things you don't want to do

burn old treated wood in a pasture - cows love to eat ashes and ashes from this wood treated with arsenic can kill cattle (also utility poles, some fence posts)

burning wood painted with lead based paint (same deal but it is lead)

Monosodium methanearsonate.  Organic arsenic herbicide sometimes mistakenly sprayed on fence lines to kill weeds.  Highly toxic if grazed.

old potato bug treatment -  Paris Green, which is arsenic

If you have the old family farm might be a good idea to check what is in the sheds esp if cattle have access to the area - one case of tree falling on shed, heifers walked in and ate antique something or another that contained arsenic....(no old lace)

dl

 

[chambero]

Out of curiousity, what concentrations or dose of arsenic is acutely toxic to cows?  I deal with this kind of stuff all the time for humans, aquatic species, and charismatic megafauna (that one is just for you DL) but our country's arsenic "cleanup" levels are tiny.  I'm guessing it takes quite bit to take down a cow.

 

[DL]

Out of curiousity, what concentrations or dose of arsenic is acutely toxic to cows?  I deal with this kind of stuff all the time for humans, aquatic species, and charismatic megafauna (that one is just for you DL) but our country's arsenic "cleanup" levels are tiny.  I'm guessing it takes quite bit to take down a cow.

CHARSMATIC MEGAFAUNA -WOW! Is that like a friendly wood nymph?

OK arsenic - as you might imagine there is no simple answer to your question - remenber (vaguely I do) that arsenic comes in all sorts of different forms
organic arsenicals - least toxic
insoluble oxides - medium toxic
trivalent inorganic compounds most toxic

so toxic doses
arsenite = 10 to 25 mg/kg
arsenate = 30 to 100 mg/kg
methanearsonates = 10 to 25 mg/kg for 5 days

so if my math is right (this is always an issue) a 1000 lb steer is about 450 kg at 10 mg /kg arsenite that would require 4500 mg which is 4.5 grams which ain't much (chambero - check the math and correct if wrong!) dl

 

[chambero]

Charismatic Megafauna =  fluffy, pretty critters (i.e. bunnies, racoons, butterflies, raptors etc) that society tends to care about and therefore doesn't want to "harm" as opposed to creepy, crawly things or disgusting things like possums, rats, cockroaches, crows that in the grand scheme of things are just as "important".

 

[red]

Chambero that is a term worth putting in the hall of fame for words! Loved it!

Red

 

[farmboy]

AROUND HERE COONZ ARE A BIG PROBLEM, WORSE THEN THE OLD SAMBO. KEEP GETTIN IN THE FEED ROOM AND TEARIN' HOLES IN THE SACK. IN THE LONG RUN THEY EVENTUALLY GET HIT BY A CAR (lol)

 

[DL]

AROUND HERE COONZ ARE A BIG PROBLEM, WORSE THEN THE OLD SAMBO. KEEP GETTIN IN THE FEED ROOM AND TEARIN' HOLES IN THE SACK. IN THE LONG RUN THEY EVENTUALLY GET HIT BY A CAR (lol)

Raccoon rabies is a BIG BIG problem on the east coast, PA and eastern Ohio......and rabies is not an unheard of problem in cattle - if you are in the rabies area and have a small herd of cattle it is not a bad idea to vaccinate for rabies - .

 

[afhm]

I can remember some old timers telling me that arsenic would do wonders for growing hair on calves, kind of like the old black leaf 40.  Don't know how it works or why but it did, especially the black leaf 40.

 

[chambero]

Yep - I suspect I had more than a little exposure to nicotine back in the 80s with the Black Leaf 40.  Dipped our calves in it every day during the summer.  It certainly seemed to grow the hair, but then again it might have been the extra brushing we did to go along with it.  I know folks that very recently still fed some kind of tablets with low levels of arsenic to steers for that very reason. 

 

[shorthorns r us]

doTheir calves have good hair?

 

[Gypsy]

Yep - I suspect I had more than a little exposure to nicotine back in the 80s with the Black Leaf 40.  Dipped our calves in it every day during the summer.  It certainly seemed to grow the hair, but then again it might have been the extra brushing we did to go along with it.  I know folks that very recently still fed some kind of tablets with low levels of arsenic to steers for that very reason. 

Eewww! Prime example of why I only eat beef I grow myself!