Does rather. What conditions does it need to develop I wonder? And if it was in a bale, would it ever be safe? Because surely it would be far far more common if it was able to develop easily in silage? Or was able to live long in silage at least.
Fair sure feeding silage out before it's made doesn't help,mixer wagons are half the problem,if you fed a grab out the cows would pic around it,they have no option with mixed feed. A neighbour started mowing for 3rd cut a week after the local shoot released pheasants,they were being mown all over his farm,I won't let them near.
I often wonder if dead mice, rabbits, birds etc hit by mower during silage and then ensiled could also cause it?? Is botulism spread? Ie an animal eats an infected dead remains and then so on??
This case was widely reported in the media, doesn't bear thinking about really. https://www.agriland.co.uk/farming-news/devastating-outbreak-of-suspected-botulism-in-fermanagh/
The bacteria and toxin are both very stable apparently. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulinum_toxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_botulinum
That stuff called botox that vain people inject into their foreheads is the same thing. 75 nanograms (that's billionth of a gram) is enough to kill an adult human.
I've been bothering about this as I'm feeding more straw than usual,been googling this morn as a local farm as of Saturday had 31 hit with botulism. Turns out botulism likes moisture so straw should be ok.
As yet no,was milking just short of 900 cows. They vaccinated yesterday,turns out the vaccine came from Ireland but is made in South Africa.
