Food Pathogen Mystery in MA: How Did Dairy Farmer Robert Kilmer Contract Brucellosis? WI DATCP Warns of New Actions with FDA, Hershberger Files for Dismissal of Criminal Charges
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 02:37PM The fear-mongering echo chamber that is the Internet's food safety arena is abuzz with news about a Massachusetts raw milk drinker who contracted brucellosis.
The MarlerClark law firm's Food Poison Journal headlines, "Twin Rivers Farm Raw Milk Linked to Brucella Illness". It said that "a local farm’s raw milk could be contaminated with Brucella. Brucellosis, also called Bang's disease, Crimean fever, Gibraltar fever, Malta fever, Maltese fever, Mediterranean fever, rock fever, or undulant fever, is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk or meat from infected animals or close contact with their secretions. Twin River Farm in Ashley Falls is the subject of a DPH investigation after a suspected human case was reported by an individual who had contact with the farm."
"Did Massachusetts Man Contract Brucella Infection from Raw Milk?" asks Fred Pritzker's Food Poisoning Law Blog. It reports that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued an alert Friday that a man who drank raw milk from Twin Rivers Farm in Western Massachusetts received a preliminary diagnosis of brucellosis. "The patient purchased raw milk from a Twin Rivers Farm in late December." 
(From the Veterinary Public Health AssociationIt turns out the situation isn't as clear-cut as the law firms might like to believe. Here are a few facts that weren't in any of their accounts:
* The person who became ill was the dairy's owner, Robert Kilmer, not just someone who happened to have "contact with the farm" or who "purchased raw milk..."
* The dairy in question, Twin Rivers Farm, is primarily a conventional dairy, which sells the vast majority of its milk from about 120 milking cows to processors for pasteurization and other processing.
* The dairy sells a small amount of milk unpasteurized to local residents of the area--maybe 20 gallons a week--and none of them have reported symptoms of illness. "A few local people wanted me to sell raw milk," Kilmer told me. So he obtained a state permit about three years ago.
* The dairy has for many years vaccinated its calves against brucella.
* The dairy has long maintained a closed herd to guard against the introduction of disease.
* Regulators have yet to do any testing--of the milk, the animals, or the herd, so there's no way to know if raw milk was the culprit, or whether there might have been some other association Kilmer had with the animals. For example, brucellosis can be passed through cows' reproductive fluids, during the birth of a calf. Or perhaps Kilmer had contact with an infected animal off his farm.
Kilmer does drink raw milk from his herd, he says, as do most dairy farmers, even if they are selling milk for processing.
Regulators from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and the Department of Public Health will be visiting the farm tomorrow (Monday) to do tests on his herd and on his milk. "There is no way in hell there should be brucellosis in this herd," Kilmer told me. He's owned the farm for twenty years, and the previous owner had it for thirty years, without any signs of brucellosis or other diseases. Indeed, reports in the local media indicate brucellosis hasn't been seen in Massachusetts for at least two decades.
Kilmer says he first began experiencing flu-like symptoms shortly after Christmas. Generally, the fevers and muscle aches would occur in the afternoon and at night, and disappear during the day. Eventually, after ruling out such illnesses as mononucleosis and strep throat, his physician sent him to a specialist in infectious diseases, and the diagnosis came through late Thursday, leading the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to put out an alert late Friday. (I have not been able to locate the actual alert that has been used by the law firms and local media.) Kilmer is currently on two antibiotics that he will need to take for 90 days.
Kilmer has a dispassionate view about raw milk. "Someone very young, below the age of two, should not drink raw milk," he says. "Their immune systems aren't well enough developed." But he thinks others should have the choice, and says the arguments of the opponents "kind of crack me up...since most of the diseases you might get are easily treated."
In any event, he is not pleased about the law firms and media immediately linking his illness to raw milk. "This is a total fabrication," he said. "It has not been found in the milk. It has been found in me." (One local publication has played the situation accurately.)
I guess Kilmer doesn't understand that the product liability law firms can't wait for the facts, since they are in intense competition for new business, and don't care if they taint a farm or other business in their rush to get out marketing promo (er, excuse me, news).
Nor does he understand that the anti-raw-milk crowd lusts for illnesses that can be attributed to raw milk, and can't take time to find out the real situation and possibly let the facts interfere with the agenda at hand.
***
A new phase in Wisconsin's relentless war on raw dairy should be starting up shortly. According to news from the food safety chief at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Steve Ingham, he has new prosecutions or enforcement actions planned against additional farms besides that of Vernon Hershberger, the farmer accused of misdemeanors for making available raw milk to private food club members. Ingham is quoted in Agri-View as saying, "At present there are between five and ten cases where we know there may be a problem. The cases are in different stages of review and information has been shared with FDA and with county district attorneys. There are other cases where we are still in the data collection process."
In the meantime, Hershberger has filed a motion for dismissal of his case. It argues in part, "The State has no evidence that the private foods from the farm were sold to the public, because none was. There was no claim by the public that the food caused anyone harm. There was no injured party. This lawsuit lacks the elements of causes of action and is defective."
Moreover, he argues that Wisconsin's dairy laws allow for consumption of raw milk by "by the owner or operator of the farm, or members of the household or nonpaying guests or employees..." He contends: "Since March 2010, the products we grow are not sold, ever. The food we produce is consumed by the farm owners and their families only; the farming families and no one else. Any payment the family receives from owners is a contribution for my family's managing and executing farm chores and needs, that is labor, supplies and overhead costs only. In the spirit of cooperation and understanding, several times we notified DATCP of our new standing and separation from it and our eliminating all standard toxic health-department regulations. DATCP's Complaint is a retaliation for our separation from overextended State authority and control for which we are protected by the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
The Complete Patient
Bill Marler has posted a correction on Food Poison Journal of the original post, suggesting I misunderstand his motives as a lawyer. And for the record, his Food Safety News had information on this case that was closer to the reality.
I guess I would say that, leaving aside motives, there is a fundamental problem when the product liability law firms simply publish whatever the public health and agriculture departments dispense, without making any effort to check with the food producers in question. Yes, that would take more time and more effort, but it is the right thing to do, especially with long-term reputations at stake.
Reader Comments (45)
On the food rights front – Vernon Hershberger is fighting his way through the judicial system on his conviction that both God and the constitution grant him the fundamental right to have a private arrangement with his members. The following is a message from Vernon, he asks for 100 people to show up at his court dates– I think 1000 would be a better number. Hope to see you there.
Gayle Loiselle
Members and Friends,
Following is a list of Court dates that have been scheduled for me:
Jan. 27 2012 at 1:00 Branch 3 with Judge Reynolds
Jan 30 2012 at 10:00 am 2nd Floor Room 263
Feb. 15 2012 at 1:00 pm Branch 3 with Judge Reynolds
All of these will be held at 515 Oak St. Baraboo 53913
Members and friends, it would be very good for our cause if we could
have 100 plus people there every time. I know we are all busy but if we
really care about this then let's see if we can't help to make a
difference!
Vernon
Nor does he understand that the anti-raw-milk crowd lusts for illnesses that can be attributed to raw milk, and can't take time to find out the real situation and possibly let the facts interfere with the agenda at hand. "
You hit the nail on the head. I am hoping Mr. Hershberger has great success against the oppressors that aren't even following their own laws.
Vaccines are not 100% effective...look at the recent whooping cough outbreak in CA, the majority had been vaccinated.
I wonder if farmer Kilmer has had contact with the vaccine that is used for Brucellosis in his heifer calves.
Ask any vet who is near retirement if they can pass a TB test and they just laugh. They have handled the Bovine TB test so many times they have the carrier in their system and can’t pass a TB test no matter how many years its been since the last time they have performed one.
The Vets have no symptoms and are in no danger of ever contracting the disease but it raises all sorts of issues when getting physicals for insurance or public volunteering that requires the Human TB test.
My first thought of Farmer Kilmer was did he get stuck when giving the vaccination for brucellosis at any time over the past 20 years.
It happens, been there done that and have injected my fair share of needles into my skin when an animal starts to jump about.
Vets are supposed to mix, inject the vaccine and record it with the State(at least in Wi they had to) but we all have had the time that the Vet is called off and the farmer finishes up.
Something to consider.
Farmer Tim
Date: Fri 20 Jan 2012
Source: Boston Globe [edited]
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/01/20/mass-health-officials-suspect-human-case-brucellosis/HCSdRy7VvXW3gUbHD7O2gL/story.html>
A man who drank raw milk produced at a Western Massachusetts dairy
farm is suspected of being infected with brucellosis, state officials
said today, 20 Jan 2012, raising concerns about the emergence of a
germ that has not been seen in livestock here in at least 2 decades.
Brucellosis is an infectious disease passed primarily between animals,
but it can be acquired by humans through the consumption of raw milk.
Officials from the state Department of Public Health said they are
investigating Twin Rivers Farm in Ashley Falls as the possible source
of the infection, because the infected man purchased raw milk there.
The dairy sells raw milk only at the facility, not in retail stores,
and officials urged anyone who bought raw milk there to discard it.
The owners of Twin Rivers Farm could not be reached for comment. Raw
milk is not pasteurized, a process that heats food to kill bacteria.
Health officials stressed that pasteurized milk is safe to drink.
Dr Alfred DeMaria, the state's top disease tracker, said the infected
man, who was not identified because of patient confidentiality rules,
is believed to have consumed the milk in late December 2011. But
because the illness often starts with flu-like symptoms, it was
difficult to pinpoint at first. "It can percolate along with fever,
fatigue, muscle aches, and with nonspecific symptoms, and can be very
difficult to diagnose," DeMaria said. "It's an astute physician that
worked it out," he said, and alerted public health officials last
night.
The man is recovering and is at home, DeMaria said, and there have
been no other reported human infections. Preliminary tests to confirm
the infection are expected back next week. State agriculture officials
have worked hard over the past half century to reduce brucellosis
infections in livestock. Dr Eugene White, an associate professor at
the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, said
the disease is not widely contagious among farm animals, but in areas
of the world where it is common, such as South America, it can
significantly hamper a herd's ability to reproduce. "In regions of
world that have this commonly, 10 to 25 per cent of cows will abort,"
he said.
Dr Catherine Brown, the state's public health veterinarian, said the
germ is not typically found in the USA, and particularly not in New
England. "We have not seen the bacteria identified in a Massachusetts
animal in decades," Brown said. If the infection is confirmed, it will
have "significant implications" for Massachusetts livestock, she said.
"We will have to figure out how the organism got here, if other
livestock was exposed ,and if others are at risk," she said.
William Gillmeister of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural
Resources said his agency has inspected Twin Rivers Farm and found it
to be a well-run business with no history of problems. He said
investigators are still trying to determine the source of the
infection and are not certain that it is in the farm's raw milk, but
the milk sales have been discontinued. Gillmeister said farms must
obtain a permit from his department to sell raw milk. "We regularly
test the milk to make sure it is safe," he said.
The department and health officials are advising consumers who have
purchased raw milk from Twin Rivers Farm to discard it, and anyone who
believes they became ill from drinking raw milk should immediately
seek medical attention and notify the local board of health or the
state's Food Protection Program, at 617-983-6712.
[byline: Kay Lazar]
- --
communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[It is not clearly stated that the milk was of bovine origin but the
comments in the posting suggest that this is the case and that the
isolate may be _Brucella abortus_, instead of _B. suis_ or _B.
melitensis_. However, it appears that additional testing is pending.
It is also not stated if, at this point, the diagnosis has been
suspected by the use of serological testing of the patient or if
brucellae have been isolated from the patient's blood cultures. The
organism is fastidious and can be a slow grower on primary growth from
the blood.
Campaigns to eradicate _B. abortus_ from cattle in the USA began in
1934 and have been quite successful. A year ago, commenting on a
cluster of _B. abortus_ in cattle in Starr County, Texas
<http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/news/pr/2011/2011Feb_BrucellosisInStarrCounty.pdf>
it was stated that "Currently, the only known reservoir for bovine
brucellosis is in elk and bison and is in the US Greater Yellowstone
Area (GYA) located in parts of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming."
ProMED-mail has posted on bovine _B. abortus_ infection in this area
in recent years (see "see also").
Notice that the herd was vaccinated with a modified live virus vaccine. Anyone who works around livestock that have been administered a live vaccine is at risk of contacting a vaccine related infection. What needs to be determined in this case is whether the farmer’s infection is vaccine related.
Ken
Your statement reminds me of a conversation I had with the vet back in the 1970’s when a couple of my cattle showed positive for TB. His comment to me was that jerseys were prone to showing positive test result and not to be concerned, and that both of us would probably test positive as well because of our work around livestock when testing and vaccinating for TB.
I’ve been there and done that as well and have jabbed myself on numerous occasions.
Ken Conrad
Interesting. A question: Why are Jerseys more likely to be reactive with the TB antigen than other breeds?
Of lawyer-ing, my old man used to say ; "it's the second-oldest profession, and they both lie for a fee"
That’s a good question, unfortunately I didn’t ask the vet and I don’t know the answer. I did however find this interesting peer reviewed article from Ireland that concurs with the vets comment,
“Numerous risk factors have been identified which are associated with the likelihood of an animal testing positive to MAP. One of the most important is age: infected animals are most likely to test positive from 2.5 to 5.5 years (Nielsen and Ersboll 2006) or from third lactation onwards (Tavornpanich et al. 2006), due to the chronic nature of JD. Secondly, cattle breed may be a factor. In a Belgium study using a commercial serum ELISA test, dairy animals were found more likely to test positive than beef animals (Boelaert et al. 2000). While no genetic susceptibility has been conclusively demonstrated within dairy breeds, Jersey cattle have been found more likely to test positive than Holstein/Friesian or other ‘larger’ dairy breeds (Cetinkaya et al. 1997; Jakobsen et al. 2000). Comparative studies on such risk factors in Irish cattle have not been published.”
http://www.irishvetjournal.org/content/pdf/2046-0481-62-6-398.pdf
Ken
Just so its clear to everyone who treads the blog, I am not suggesting that farmer Kilmer has brucellosis from a possible needle stick when vaccinating his heifers, he may be carrying the vaccine in his blood which could show positive on a test.
Remember to positively identify brucellosis in a human a specific blood test must be carried out to do so. That may be the test result David eluded to in his post but without it it is just speculation. And with the growing evidence of how food is related to arthritis and other inflammatory illnesses brucellosis is way down on the list of things that would cause Farmer Kilmers symptoms that were discribed in Davids post.
Remember Chicago late 2009, we've heard this before, and I am pretty sure raw milk is not the only food consumed lately by Farmer Kilmer.
Tim Wightman
Why is it that the truth never seems to surface in the debate? Full spectrum mineral supplementation, i.e. non-radioactive-contaminated sea salt and kelp meal, which probably now cannot be found post-Fukishima, supplemented to land and livestock simply makes all these problems go away. Except for the occasional weak animal pre-disposed that we don’t want in our genetics anyway.
What I refer to here IS settled science and was cast in stone by Dr. William Albrecht, Dean of Soils, University of Missouri, Columbia, during the 1940s. His story was exhaustively detailed by Charles Walters in various books and articles that can be found searching the archives of ACRES U.S.A. Albrecht referred to brucellosis as being about as contagious as a stomachache. He collaborated with Dr. Ira Allison, M.D., who treated brucellosis (undulant fever) patients with a trace element mineral program.
I personally have a good friend in northern Michigan who, as a boy, watched his father deal with brucellosis in a Holstein cattle herd by taking the local veterinarian’s advice and using the same concept of trace mineral supplementation. That herd is still in existence today, except now it is a cow-calf beef operation and the practice of full-spectrum mineralization, sea salt and kelp meal, has kept those animals disease free for decades with no vaccinations or antibiotics.
Kilmer, being on a regimen of a 90-day antibiotic treatment, is asking for trouble. I am not speaking as an armchair bona-fide expert. I have a little bit of experience with this personally but lean very heavily on people who research this issue and devoted their lives to understanding of what’s going on here. Dr. Maynard Murray, a disease pathologist, in the 1940s and ‘50s, took his vacation time and went on ocean fishing trawler trips in the Pacific and Atlantic, and collected tissue samples of marine life. What was extremely fascinating was tissue samples that he collected from aged whales and whale calves. When he studied their heart tissue, he could not differentiate between the calf and the 80-year old adult. He also noticed NO DEGENERATIVE DISEASE in any of the tissue studies that he conducted for years. In other words, life in the ocean does not die, or at least didn’t, from disease, only old age and predation.
Grass, the forgiveness of nature, is the only terrestrial plant that will pick up into its biological structure, all the elements that are found in ocean water – if they are available in the soil or sprayed on through foliar application. The animal resorts to the mineral box out of desperation to alleviate its mineral hunger.
TB eradication is being used in Michigan cattle to depopulate whole herds and implement animal ID and premises registration. Continuous yearly testing will undoubtedly begin to cause certain animals to become sensitive and test positive. Disease eradication is being used to eradicate animal agriculture and continue the pressure of forcing people off the land.
I was confronted with this issue over ten years ago and listened to state bureaucrats declare bovine TB a highly contagious disease, which is utterly ridiculous. When confronted with that contention in a search warrant to force whole herd testing on my cattle after six years of whole herd testing and then my refusing, they quickly changed their definition and referred to bovine TB as a “public health threat” because they knew their science would not stand up to scrutiny.
We found bovine TB to be endemic to the soil, carried in the wildlife, started with mice and spread up the food chain, even to the deer and elk. Studies have shown that TB proliferates in the soil where there is a lack of calcium, pH well below 7.0, iron becomes highly available and copper is suppressed in the uptake into plants. This creates the biological terrain for the TB mycobacterium to proliferate. It will spread to any suitable host.
I have stopped these problems from happening in my livestock for enough years now, and through selective breeding, to feel confident in what I do. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Feel free to check out my statements. The sources are available if you want to do the search on the internet.
They never look for a real SOLUTION. It's no different than those that feel we shouldn't ask in depth questions of the families of the sick children. It's the milk, that's all that matters, leave them alone! That simplistic mind set gets us no where except the continual rabid cries to ban "Natures most nearly perfect food". The dairy world used to be proud of that statement, now they lobby against the very product they produce. Says a lot, doesn't it?
Kelp has been my main mineral source for 15 years. Ask a nutritionist if that is possible. I've fed Redmond salt in the past, but I have so much iron in my soils and water, I don't want any more. I feed Sea 90 now. In 2004 I sprayed Ocean Grown on my pastures and hay fields. That produced some of the best quality (high minerals and sugars) hay I've ever produced. The smell was amazing and the cows loved it. I have a copy of the feed test from that hay. I show it to some folks that tour my farm, to give them a reality check..
Most nutritionists would say it wont work, as it doesn't fit the little box they want to jam everything into. It was grass and clover, so "can't work" according to the mono culture alfalfa/corn world that dairy $cience has created. Grass is finally getting the credit it deserves, something us graziers have known all along. Even the universities are finally recommending farmers put some grass in the mix! It only took them a few DECADES to figure out that basic fact.
Real solutions come from those that work the land, and it will always be that way. There have been a few from the scientific community, such as Albrecht and Reams, that somehow see past the fog that clouds most researchers, but the truths they discover are buried by TPTB in hopes of propping up their feeble ideas. It works for a while, but truth can never be suppressed for very long.
Mark Purdey reinforces Greg's comments on the TB issue and how easy it is to deal with. http://www.markpurdey.com/articles_tuberculosis_alert.htm
$cience will never understand the basic principles of the natural system because of their arrogance and bias. It's too simple. We are to believe it is far too complex for the common man to figure out. Not much money can be made off following those principles either!
Some will call me anti science because I don't put my faith in the alphabet soup crowd and their agenda. I am fascinated by true science and observation. Real life trial and error, you know...."anecdotal evidence". LOL!! We are building a whole new paradigm. One of health and truth, freedom, and justice. Choose ye this day who you will serve!
Interesting perspective on TB eradication.
Another interesting historical fact about TB eradication, is that USDA's own data recognizes that it was less of a problem in parts of the US with (what was deemed) "backwards" systems of animal agriculture. The central issue was the fact that the "backwards" regions tended to have closed herds. In states such as Wisconsin, with highly commercialized livestock industries and advanced breeding stock, TB spread became much more of an issue because of more inter-farm animal transport.
As you may already be aware, The Hoard's Dairymen (the national dairy farm magazine founded by the late Wisconsin governor W.D. Hoard) was a major proponent of compulsory TB eradication, which was highly controversial for much of the early 20th century. W.D. Hoard was also famous for, among other things, imposing English-speaking schools on Wisconsin's German immigrant population during his reign as governor (It gives you a whole new perspective our current brand of xenophobes such as Ron Paul who believe that Mexican immigrants should be forced to learn English).
To me, this historical data suggests that TB eradication was a necessary step for the industrialization and commercialization of the livestock industry, and for the development of modern "improved" breeds.
The Mark Purdey article you link to has a fascinating bibliography. Thanks for the link.
Eventually those who say everything positive is anecdotal and unscientific are going to have to come to the realization that they are not operating in a real scientific paradigm any longer. It is only science BASED. And that is a long reach.
The agency in charge of "science" falsely so called and arrogantly ensconced in ivory towers far from the living system still took thirty years to figure out that vitamin c helps the common cold have less impact. Pretty pitiful. These are the people we try to appease when we want to bargain over "standards". If it is left to them we won't have any resistance to anything and the mutant foods will be making us even more ill like the agent orange corn coming soon to your dinner table----if they can get you to eat it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyDXH1amic&feature=share
It is funny, because I've often told folks that I pretty much do the exact opposite of what dairy $cience promotes, with far better results. They do add some bits and pieces at times, like BUN and MUN research. It was done for the conventional farmer feeding garbage by products, like soy bean meal, but has merit for us grass farmers as well. Too much protein is a plague for all of dairy. That research could have been done on real farms at far less cost. I simply watch the manure and make adjustments accordingly.
Doc Dettloff (Organic Valley staff vet) has spoke of the plague of Johnes in the conventional system. He has witnessed herds that had high prevalence of it, that disappeared when the farmer started grazing and following organic practices. It's incurable according to the experts, kill the cow! I contend most of these things we have been taught to fear are always present, and will rear their ugly head if we fail to be the stewards we are supposed to. Even then, if there is a weakness, or stress, and something pops up, we still have the ability to correct it through nutrition.
This is why zero pathogens is probably barking up the wrong tree.I see some in the raw milk movement trying to follow the same faulty logic that has got us into this mess. If we can just make the milk sterile, then everything will be fine. I doubt it! As has been brought up by Miguel, and others, there is much more to this picture on the human side. The raw milk haters want it banned so our sick society can continue on the path to extinction. We have to figure out how to help the weak (those that get sick), so they don't get sick in the first place.PREVENTION! Trying to bring everyone down to their level is death to us all. This applies to much more than just raw milk, as there is risk in everything we eat, especially with compromised immune systems. I'm very much in favor of producing quality, nutrient dense, grass milk, but I will be accused of not caring because I don't see testing, or some third party entity as THE solution.
If science is so true, so noble, then lets see them work towards a solution instead of constantly crying wolf. I'd like to see these good scientists start piecing together the big picture to these latest illnesses to see if they actually are from raw milk, and if so, how? OPENLY, so we can all see the results and process involved. I want to know that the local dog poo has been checked, as Gordon suggested, as well as, near by CAFOs that may be spreading contamination far and wide. The list of questions asked of Mary Martin a couple months back were very pertinent, but, alas, the interested party was belittled for asking. We will never find solutions without asking tough questions.
I remember talking to a UW soil scientist years back, and I started explaining the connection between soils and plants. He cut me off and said he had no knowledge of plant nutrition as he was a soil scientist! He was near retirement and spent his whole life telling farmers what to fertilize with, but had not one clue what it was doing to the plants they were growing (or animals eating those plants) with those recommendations. But, he informed me that good calcium levels were not necessary, nor sulfur or traces. We wonder why agriculture has become so backwards when we look to people like that for knowledge. Bias? Arrogance?
Mark Purdey is a great example of what science should be,. in the field, working with the animals in real life. There is no need for most, if not all of what goes on in those ivory palaces and their research farms. It can all be done on real farms, in real time, under real conditions. The current system is a dead end that leads to the corruption we see today, bought and paid for by Monsanto, while figuring out ways to feed garbage to cows, and relying on band aides to keep it all going. It applies in all facets of our lives, not just dairy.
I encourage everyone to read Mark Purdey's work on mad Cow also. He was a pioneer doing what many others that call themselves scientists should have been. Also, Natural Cattle Care by Pat Coleby covers most of the common maladies that affect cattle today and what nutritional deficiencies bring them on, and how to correct them.
Purdey paid for his actions. What he has to say should be very closely paid attention to. His work gives us an example why we do what we do. Anybody who reads this blog should be paying very close attention to what is being brought up here. The disease organism is not the problem, it is the terrain that allows it to thrive. The internet is a wonderful research medium. Take advantage of it while we still have it at our disposal.
"In short, there is a close connection between abnormal gut flora and abnormal brain development—a condition Dr. Campbell-McBride calls Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS). The best way to prevent GAPS is for the mother to avoid all antibiotics and birth control pills prior to conception and then by breastfeeding and avoiding the use of antibiotics after delivering. This is because they destroy the balance of gut floras and promote the growth of pathogenic bacteria. In addition to breastfeeding, I highly recommend the use of fermented foods and probiotics for your baby to help reduce his/her risk of GAPS.”
Ken
Do you mean for the mother to consume the fermented foods or for the baby to with breastfeeding?
Thank you all for the very informative information. It is a lot to absorb. Miguel and other have been talking about the environment,animal health/husbandry, feed/grasses, etc for years, these posts have really put it in perspective.