Alert for Livestock Owners

As planting season approaches, a few precautions can prevent disaster next winter. Make sure to clean up any spilled insecticide as a result of planter breakdown or even refilling the boxes. While insecticide is generally of little consequence after a few weeks in the soil, a pile on the surface may remain available and toxic for many months. In early March of this year, we encountered a situation where several bred cows died of exposure to Counter insecticide. These animals had been on the field for at least 2 months before the poisoning occurred. The toxicology lab confirmed the toxin to be Counter. They indicated that a spill would likely persist just long enough for the livestock to find it.