Market Farming

[Marc & Marcy <marc AT aculink.net>]

..snip..

> I'm still hesitant to use these products, but your information has
> put me more at ease. I guess when we don't know enough, it's easier to be
> overanxious.

I suggest you are being cautious and responsible to your
customers. No communicable disease expert has appeared in
this newsgroup to the best of my knowledge so it's kinda
like lay people discussing nuclear reactors or quantum
mechanics.

While some claim that prions are not to be feared I think
this conclusion is best reached by qualified disease control
people as the disease is devastating, not uncommon and far
and beyond more prevalent than "meteorites". See:

http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/335/Prions.html

for some infection and death rate statistics in humans. You
will be surprised at the prevalence of prion related disease
in humans.

> The only part I'm confused on is the cross-species thing. I've
> heard that BSE originated as Scrapie in sheep--are they just two versions of
> the same thing?

See the following web sites for various names, details about
interspecies transfer and other stuff about prions. Beware
of several quack sites that are present in the Yahoo list.

http://www.medical-devices.gov.uk/tse-lit.htm (gives a lot
of the different names and 
varieties in the intro)

http://www.rit.edu/~sbib350/posters/prions.htm  (gives an
explanation with color pic's)

http://ink.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=Stanley+Prusiner+prions&z=1&hc=0&hs=0
(about the guy who figured out prions and lots of info about
them)

> I hadn't heard about being genetically susceptible either.
Genetic susceptibility exists but the same disease shows up
in people who have NO family history.

..snip..

I repost the following post from another news group as it
was well researched, is quite relevant to your concerns
regarding market gardening and has an extensive reference
list for those who want to do more study:

Marc
______________

From:   mmiller AT pcsia.com
                                                                              
                      
1/25/00 10:35 PM

Subject: Re: Van Milligen's spent layers for fish feed
     To: aquaponics AT townsqr.com

The reason for my question is that when I posted the email
at the bottom of
this post to another list, I got a thougthful response from
somebody in AR
who mentioned that there thought the eagles eating dead
chicken thrown out
of the poultry houses was the source for this problem with
their eagles.  

I'm sorry I did not save the reply,  - Actually, I was lucky
to find my
post :>)  At the very bottom of this post is another related
post on this
subject.

This is another one of those areas where we don't have the
answers but
should be on the lookout.  Mike Miller

At 18:32 25-01-00 EST, you wrote:
>Mike,
>
>I don't have a ration description for the laying hens.  I know that they are 
>fed corn and soybean meal.  I would think that it is a standard laying 
>ration.  There are 25,000,000 layers in Iowa and we will process more than 
>half of them when their laying life is over.
>
>Poultry in one form or another is a pretty standard ingredient in pet food 
>and fish feed.  Whether it is whole poultry or poultry byproducts it is a 
>nutritious and safe feed ingredient.  snip

Sometime back, the local PBS station had to fill some time
from some
commerical length programs being aired.  Instead of running
ads for
underwriters or upcoming programs, they ran a short film
from Arkansas
about the Bald Eagle die offs occuring there.  Bald Eagles
are dying in
several west central lakes.  No virus or bacterial cause was
found in the
otherwise healthy birds.  Only the brains were abnormal
(white spots on the
slide, I think) and the eagles before dying were very
uncoordinated and
staggered around.  Coots, also exhibit this same disease, so
the program,
suggested the Bald Eagles might be picking up the "disease"
from eating them.

I thought, "the dying eagles stagger just like the cows in
Britian, they
are no doubt eating dead diseased animals with similar
symptons and no
known causative agent can be found : BINGO, there just might
be a prion
disease for birds too " and moved on until NOVA reaired "The
Brain Eater"
show which I had missed first time around.  In the NOVA
program, they were
looking at US cattle for a native version of BSE to little
avail.

I don't know anything much about this area as I am an
engineer by training
but the similarities are obvious even to the novice.  Since
the Arkansa
program ended with the mystery unsolved, I ask those of you
on the list who
are experienced in this field, could a prion type disease
explain the die
offs of Bald Eagles in Arkansas?
 
Another related post 

Mike wrote:

: Also,if deer are being added to the rendering plant mix
and the conjecture
: in the Boston Globe article turn out to be true that the
TSE in deer has
: jumped to humans like the BSE did from the cattle in
Britian, then could
: our poultry and swine industries ???which apparently still
allow
: potentially infected meat byproducts in their feeds???  be
the next
: carries of a TSE to humans?

I raise the question in this article that Prions have a long
incubation
period.  Cattle and sheep have a longer life span than
poultry.  How can we
be sure they are not carriers - the answer is we cannot.  In
my opinion BSE
is only one of the potential risks that we simply know too
little about.
The use of casualty animals that have been treated has to
also be a concern.
An expert in another country has told me that the rendering
industry is very
poorly regulated and he is most concerned.  Common sense
tells me that we
should simply avoid these things.  Consumers should have the
right to know
what the animals were fed when buying their meat.  We owe it
to the animals
we are raising to ensure they are in optimum health and fed
the best rations
that we can come up with.

As you will see from the focus of this article, I am
involved in the Ratite
Industry - but the principals are the same for all species. 
I had one US
nutritionist tell me that I should not be speaking out on
these products as
they have enabled the mass public to be able to afford meat
on a regular
basis.   That may have been true when the practice first
started 40 or 50
years ago.  Soymeal as a high quality protein source was not
readily
available and the APPs were sourced from healthy animals at
slaughter
plants.

In all these discussions it must never be overlooked that
the situation has
arisen from consumer pressure to achieve their food as
cheaply as possible.
==================================
ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS IN RATITE DIETS

There have been many writings recently by Ratite feed
companies, their
employees and nutritionists, about the use of Animal
By-Products in
Ratite feeds - both pro and con.  Most of these articles
make reference
to many topics that are of great concern to me in our
efforts to achieve
a sustainable market for our meat products.

Ostrich Meat`s greatest selling point is its health benefits
as a red
meat. To feed them animal protein products from any source,
in the light
of current evidence, does not in my opinion allow the
industry to call
it a healthy red meat. I will return to this issue later.

Reference was made to the reasons being given for inclusion
of' "carcass
meal" was as a result of research done in South Africa. As
an Ostrich
Farmer in South Africa maybe this is an opportunity to
provide a greater
understanding on the industry here.

Until 1993 the marketing of all ostrich products could only
go through
one channel. Ostrich fanning had been conducted in an
atmosphere of not
wishing too many  ostriches to survive in fear of flooding
the market.
Therefore maximum production was not a pre-requisite to
formulating
rations. Many producers outside South Africa are not aware
that hide and
feathers where the primary products and the meat was sold as
a
by-product to the meat processing industry.  It was not
considered of
good enough quality to be sold fresh. That is why we still
do not have a
developed ostrich meat market here in South Africa. For this
reason
South Africa is NOT the ideal pattern to follow when
developing feed
rations for high quality Ostrich meat, maximum production
from breeder
birds, or maximum chick survivability.

To satisfy the hide and feather market a 14mth slaughter age
was
considered the ideal. With meat quality and productivity NOT
a
consideration. With deregulation came a number of new
entrants to
Ostrich Farming in South Africa, these farmers have been
looking to the
work done OUTSIDE South Africa as they were not satisfied
with the feed
performance and information available from within South
Africa.  It
surprises me greatly that some US feed companies are trying
to follow
South African recommendations.

At the First International Ostrich Meat Congress held at
Oudtshoorn 12
months ago a clear message was sent to the industry.  That
message - if
we were to sell our meat we MUST ensure the quality is
improved,  that
the meat contains no animal by-products, no growth
stimulants, no
routine use of antibiotics and all other "nasties" as
perceived by the
consumer - OUR CUSTOMERS.

Following that meeting a number of our feed manufacturers
here in South
Africa have listened to the message and now ensure that
their feeds are
free of such products. Sadly not all yet.

Reference was made to the misconception that the animal
by-products
impart an off-taste to the meat. This is NO misconception! 
The comment
has been made to me by a South African consumer on how he
had recently
eaten Ostrich Meat and could taste the Fish Meal in the
meat. He did not
like it. Have you ever been in a cold store where carcasses
from animals
fed Fish Meal are hanging?  It is more like walking into a
fish store.

In other livestock, feeding onions and garlic will flavour
the meat and
odour with onion and garlic. Alfalfa and Corn are neutral
and do not
have strong flavours, but the total rations still needs to
be a balanced
ration or odd flavours can result. Too much IRON in the diet
from other
feedstuffs and minerals will cause Ostrich meat to taste
somewhat like
liver. Liver is high in iron and that is why it has its
distinct
flavour.

Meat quality - meat with off tastes, inconsistent texture,
odd colour
etc. - was discussed at our most recent monthly South
African Ostrich
industry meeting,  it remains a problem to the development
of our
industry.  A pre-requisite to good quality meat in any
species is fast
growth rates. The South African formulations were geared to
obtaining
210 lbs at 12-14mths. These can be reached by 7mths with a
well
formulated feed and in time, improved genetics combined with
well
formulated feed will produce faster gains and larger birds.
It is
interesting to note the improvements made in the last 7
years by Blue
Mountain Feeds Farmers - both in weight gains and overall
production,
compared to the little change in 150 years of South African
farming.

Whether or not animal by-products are legally allowed in the
feed, we as
farmers have a responsibility and obligation NOT to use them
in any of
our Ostrich livestock rations, including Breeders, as they
will go to
slaughter someday and be turned into meat for our consumer. 
In the
light of the evidence about the health risks of Animal
By-products in
animal feeds, we cannot continue to use them.  Here a few
examples why :

"The critical experiment came when Marsh inoculated scrapie
infected
sheep brain into US cattle. [63]  If you do this in England
the cows go
mad, twitching [16] and kicking into a rabid frenzy. [12] 
But in
America, cows instead stagger to their deaths like downer
cows do [65],
supporting the notion that a form of BSE is already here in
the United
States."

"BSE has been able to infect and (therefore) kill cats,
antelopes, and
even ostriches from presumably eating infected protein.[l]
Experimentally, one can give BSE to monkeys [56],  pigs,
mice, sheep,
goats [l], and chimpanzees. [8]  There is no reason to
believe that BSE
will not similarly infect humans. [8]  So far, BSE has
proven more
infectious than most other transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies.
[39]  In fact 6 out of 7 attempts to transfer the disease to
different
mammalian species have been successful. [39]  That does not
bode well
for the human race."

"Spongiform encephalopathies are invariably fatal [29]
neurodegenerative
[17] diseases. There is no treatment [55] nor cure. [18] 
The novel [3]
infectious agents evoke no immune response [50] and
consequently slowly
accumulate [14] for an incubation period of up to 30 years.
[60]  You
can't detect them [28],  isolate them [35], nor purify them.
[13]  In
fact, only an autopsy can tell if you ever even had them.
[45]  They
aren't viruses and they aren't bacteria. [66]  The consensus
is that
they are prions, or infectious proteins. [60]  Without
detectable DNA
nor RNA [41], not only does no one know how they replicate, 
but the
whole concept challenges the basic tenets of biology. [45]"

Last year the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology was
awarded to
Stanley B. Prusiner for his pioneering discovery of an
entirely new
genre of disease-causing agents and the elucidation of the
underlying
principles of their mode of action. The infectious particles
that
Prusiner discovered, which he named prions (PREE-ons). are
made of
protein and do not contain any genes or genetic material --
a detail
that distinguishes them from all other kinds of infectious
agents such
as viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Prusiner began
his search for
prions in 1972, after one of his patients died from dementia
resulting
from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human equivalent of "mad
cow"
disease.  He has linked the prions to other degenerative
brain disorders
including Altzheimers Disease and Kuru in humans and
Scrapies in sheep.

Prusiner has showed that prion diseases can sometimes be
passed from one
species to another. This work has taken 25 years. How can
anyone be
absolutely sure that recycling Animal By-Products back into
the food
chain is not building up further problems for the future
that are still
unidentified?  The answer is WE CANNOT.

Comment was made that bans on animal by-products only
referred to sheep
and cattle products. This as a result of the link between
transmission
from sheep to cattle. It must be remembered that cattle have
a very much
longer life than swine or poultry.  When reading the above
and the still
unknown incubation time of some of these prions, can we be
sure that
they are not present in swine and poultry, who do not live
long enough
for such diseases to develop?  The answer is WE CANNOT.

Before moving to South Africa I was a dairy farmer in the
UK. Never did
I question what I was feeding my cattle. I trusted my feed
company. When
the BSE outbreak hit - it was not the feed companies that
where blamed
by the press even though they where the ones formulating the
Animal
By-Products in the feed.  The blame was attributed to us
farmers for
being greedy and putting profit before our consumers health
and safety
by allowing and purchasing feed with Animal By-Products in
them.

It is clearly evident that the only way feed companies call
be forced to
change their practices is from pressure from the farmers.
The best
producing ostriches both here in South Africa and in the US
are reared
on feeds free of any animal protein products. The technology
to replace
Animal by-products in feeds has existed for over 30 years -
there is NO
GOOD REASON for feed companies to be using these products as
superior
bird productivity and meat quality can be better achieved
without them.

My ideas and opinions are not intended to do damage to any
livestock
industry whatsoever.  In fact, my concern is to help
livestock farmers
in general and ostrich ranchers in particular, by asking
each to take
the RESPONSIBILITY for what your livestock is fed to protect
YOUR
industry.  There is enough evidence about the feeding of
Animal
by-products to cause a health risk concern. It is the
opinion of many
that there are FAR TOO MANY DOUBTS regarding the safe use of
these
products. In the light of the evidence that is available
farmers and
nutritionists have a RESPONSIBILITY and OBLIGATION NOT to
use these
products in our animal feeds when the animal is used for
human
consumption.

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