Round up and related questions

[chicknmania]

Our farmer neighbor came over today and offered to farm our field this year in soybeans. It has lain idle the past few years, before that it was hay. He wants to plant the beans, then spray roundup after they've grown a bit, to kill the weeds. c. Our barn the chickens call home is close to the field. My question is will the Roundup hurt them if they should wander into the field.? (they are free range) Actually, there's no if...I know they will venture in. And, soybeans are not toxic to them, are they?

 

[Judy]

Just read here recently that Roundup has a pretty scary MSDS, like keep kids and livestock away for a long time.... Might want to do some research.

 

[chicknmania]

Well,that's just great. But how could that be? I mean farmers use it on land they're growing crops on, then people and animals eat the crops....wouldn't it have to be non-toxic? And a certain percentage of that stuff washes into waterways and I know it can be toxic if it gets to a certain level, but they don't consider it toxic til it does get to that level...I'll check it out some more, though, thanks for the heads up.

 

[Uzuri]

Don't assume that farmers know every last little thing about every spray they apply! If the manufacture says it's safe, they generally believe them.

From what I've heard, when it comes to non-organic commercial spays, glyphosate is the "safest". Exactly what that means is up for grabs, though. I sure wouldn't let your chickens eat anything that's been sprayed with it, or breathe it in while it's being sprayed. It makes me sick for days when our neighbor blasts his lawn.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Why would they BOTHER USING it if it were non toxic? The whole point is to KILL THINGS!

Frankly there is not *that* much diversity in biochemistry and cell metabolism among different kinds of life on earth. There are really not many cases where a substance kills one kind of critter effectively while being genuinely completely harmless to other kinds of critters. In reality, it's just a matter of differing sensitivities. But just because a pesticide doesn't *kill* nontarget species does not mean it is genuinely completely harmless to them. E.g., to US.

I mean, just look at the long list of pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc) that have been accepted as safe in the past but that are now documented to cause serious, just harder to notice because *chronic*, harm to other critters including us.

It would be foolish to assume that list is not going to be added to further, from things that today are legally permissible.

Glyphosate itself is not especially toxic -- the guy who invented it apparently used to occasionally *drink* it as a rhetorical stunt to argue for its safety -- HOWEVER Roundup and other commercial glyphosate preparations have a whole slew of (proprietary, and thus secret and undisclosed) other ingredients added to 'improve' the effectiveness of the product, and it has been pretty well documented that in real world conditions Roundup is more long-lived and more toxic than pure glyphosate alone.

Me, I would not be letting any of my animals (or kids either) onto land where Roundup or its kin were sprayed, for at least a week and a rainstorm after the spraying. And then I'd be cautious about eating anything that'd been grazing those pastures for some longer time frame. That said, eating eggs from your chickens is not going to kill you and probably (probably) would not have any meaningful effect on your overall life expectancy.

(edited to add: raw soybeans in large amounts are mildly toxic, both directly and in terms of decreasing absorbtion of other nutrients from feed. I do not know how much is left in the field after harvesting and I do not know offhand the dose that it takes to produce symptoms in chickens -- although I believe the latter information does exist, try googling thoroughly something like 'soy toxic chickens amount'. Certainly *some* raw soybeans, particularly if it's just for a short period of time, is basically ok... but you migth want to research the details more, before harvest time)

JMHO,

Pat

 

[citrusdreams]

Maybe there are different formulas available under the trade name Round Up? Perhaps he's using the name generically and thinks you know what he means? I know that sounds stupid and I don't mean to be condescending, but it happens all the time: some people say something and expect you to read between the lines.

Anyay, in my experience, Round Up kills everything. So it doesn't make sense to me that you would be directed to spray Round Up on seedlings. It will kill them, I'm sure. I would check into that before you ruin everything you plant.

And I was under the assumption that people are home growing, or buying organic, because the pesticides and weed killers are toxic.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
No, Monsanto sells various lines of "Roundup-ready" soy that has been genetically engineered with a gene for roundup-resistance. Thus you can very easily 'weed' your whole field with glyphosate and almost literally ONLY the soy (which you bought at a premium from Monsanto, who also sold you the Roundup, is that clever moneymaking or WHAT) will survive.


Pat

 

[Brindlebtch]

I know someone who had sheep and a farmer sprayed the fence line with Roundup and my friend lost several sheep when they ate grass along that fence line.

 

[cmom]

Here are some articles on Roundup ready soybeans. Monsanto has also engineered roundup ready corn and cotton seeds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundup_Ready#Genetically_modified_crops

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agri...netic_engineering/roundup-ready-soybeans.html

http://ard.unl.edu/rn/0900/bean.html

http://www.psrast.org/subeqau.htm

 

[cw]

i think the correct answer to that cannot be answered here, it has o be answered at home! Bein a water plant operator and a farmer myself the answer lays with the individual usin it.
is he goin to use it as directions specify?
is he responsable?
does he have the correct equipment to apply?
will he spray on a day when wind is in the correct direction or at a mininum?
can u keep animals off in the allotted time requried?
if yes you would fine, if any thing ask him to rotate it with corn next year in exchange for some maybe work out a deal?