Chickens and Mud

[casportpony]

[@=/u/40200/mandelyn]@mandelyn[/@], I've thought about contacting tree trimming services, but I'm concerned about the loads containing plants/trees that are toxic to livestock. For many years the self care boarding stable I was at did this, and people would fill their stalls and paddocks with trimmings, and management used them in one of the turn out areas. Then one day six horses died, and the cause of death was something in the tree trimmings.

Why I advised against fresh tree trimmings....guy here did fresh chips and lost a few to aspergillus confirmed by lab.

The stables got away with it for years, though I never thought it was safe, so I brought in base rock instead. There is a place up the road from us that allegedly lost some cows and horses, though the person that told me didn't know if it was a toxic plant, mold, or something else.

 

[mandelyn]

I should have specified further, but didn't think about it. My brother has a tree business and he's an Arborist, so the loads we get are prime choice and job specific, not a mix of sources or unknown. You do have to request what you're willing to take.

 

[aart]

I should have specified further, but didn't think about it. My brother has a tree business and he's an Arborist, so the loads we get are prime choice and job specific, not a mix of sources or unknown. You do have to request what you're willing to take.

The problem isn't so much that the tree itself, or any other plants that get chipped, may be toxic,
but that fresh 'wet' chippings are a petri dish for other organisms(like molds etc) to grow and flourish into highly concentrated numbers enough to sicken chickens.