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market-farming - Re: Manure and E-Coli

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Bev and Chuck Henkel" <bchenkel AT conpoint.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Manure and E-Coli
  • Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 10:31:06 -0600

 
 
where beef cows are fed mostly a grain diet.  (Feed Lot animals)  There is a big chance that E-coli could be a problem in the manure.  If these farmers according to the Public Radio would feed hay for 2-3 weeks prior to butchering, the e-coli would be absorbed into the hay
 
 
All manure is loaded with E. coli.  Most E. coli are harmless as they are destroyed in the acid environment in our stomach when ingested.  They are tested for (reported as "coliform count") on food and well water etc.as a marker because if there is fecal contamination then they are routinely present and are easier to test for than the shigella, salmonella, etc.that are the bigger concern.  The undigested starches from a high grain cattle diet produce a more acid environment throughout the intestinal tract.  The 0157:H7 strain of E.coli proliferates in and becomes more acid resistant in this environment. At least one of the populations of this strain then does cause disease in humans.  A few days of hay was supposed to decrease the number of those E. coli.  But if it only takes ten to make you sick does it really matter whether a teaspoon of manure contains a quadrillion or only a billion?  More significantly the few days of hay was supposed to allow the multiple generations (split as often as every twenty minutes) occurring in that time to allow the E. coli to revert back to an acid sensitive condition, and thereby lose their disease producing potential for humans.  I haven't noticed information that this is dependably accomplished.  In the present feedlot situation it is not economically practical.
 
Chuck Henkel



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