Kansas kills thousands of cattle as Republicans feed plastic to livestock

Republicanism isn't self-reliance; it's moral hazard. 

In May this scribe did a 2000 mile loop to Vermillion, South Dakota and back again where the number of cattle feedlots in Kansas, Nebraska and eastern Colorado draining the Ogallala Aquifer is staggering. The Arkansas River was dry at Dodge City, Kansas and thousands of confined feeder cattle valued at some $2000 per head died in June.

A spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Agriculture confirmed to NPR on Thursday that "several weather factors combined which led to heat stress for cattle that impacted cattle producers." But the representative also noted that cattle ranches aren't required to report those losses, "so we don't have any data about the extent of the impact." [Days of intense heat have killed thousands of cattle in Kansas]

But it's not enough to blame the creator or climate change for the deaths of helpless bovines.

When the pathologist opened up the cow’s rumen, he found a volleyball-sized wad of plastic strands lying within. Closer examination revealed the wad consisted of net wrap the cow had eaten. When asked, the producer noted he’d been feeding his cows hay ground from round bales still wrapped with net wrap. It had blocked the outflow of feed from the rumen to cause severe digestive problems. SDSU Extension beef experts found when they surveyed producers using net wrap, about 15% of dead cows examined had net wrap in their systems. Most producers (as shown by the SDSU survey) do not remove net wrap when they grind hay, relying on the screens to grind it up along with the hay. The problem here is that even small, ground-up strands of net wrap ball up in the animal’s rumen: it’s indigestible with very little coming out of the back end of the cow. Secondly, while more producers (about half) remove net wrap from bales being fed whole, if it’s left out on the feeding ground, many cows pick it up and chew on it when the hay is gone. [Animal Health Matters: Preventive medicine for beef cows includes removing net wrap]

Yes, Republican welfare farmers are the real ecoterrorists who hate subsidies unless they benefit from them. 

Recall Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling or MCOOL was repealed during the second Obama term to shield American commodities from scrutiny because every ag product, meats both wild and domestic not grown organically in the United States is contaminated with atrazine, neonicotinoids, glyphosate, dicamba, DDT, mercury, lead, PFAS, E. coli, Imazalil plus other toxins and pathogens. 

Tampons, menstrual pads and even some sunscreens contain gender bending endocrine disruptors. Phthalate-laden bottled water alone makes up 1.5 million tons of plastic each year. 

So now, plastic is killing cattle, contaminating beef, milk and cheese then peddled to consumers!

ip photo: tumbleweeds imported from Eurasia litter a prairie landscape.