The supply of manure poses risks to animal health

The introduction of pathogens from salmonella or paratuberculosis is latent when farms supply manure to livestock. Royal GD in Deventer warns of this.

GD states that research shows that Dutch dairy farms that provide ruminant manure often have an unfavorable paratuberculosis status than farms that do not provide manure. There is also a tendency that the provision of ruminant manure on farms with a positive case of tuberculosis often leads to a loss of this status.

Watch out for paratuberculosis and salmonellosis

The risk of reduced animal health is therefore the reason why GD advises against providing manure. If you still want or need to supply natural manure, then in any case you should supply manure from companies with a suitable status for tuberculosis and salmonellosis. It was already known to supply pig manure that this was associated with an increased risk of disease outbreaks due to salmonella typhi† For greater certainty, it is possible that the manure supplied can be checked for the presence of salmonella bacteria (pig and cattle manure) and tuberculosis bacteria (cattle manure).

Use only the fertilizer provided on arable land

Using only fertilizer provided on arable land reduces the risk of spreading germs. The risk of salmonella contamination across grasslands can be reduced by waiting at least six weeks and mowing once between spreading and grazing or feeding fresh grass.

In the case of tuberculosis, the pathogenic bacteria in grasslands can remain infectious for more than twelve months. They can also deliver fodder. Cattle or goat manure supplied from a farm infected with tuberculosis is not safe for use in grasslands intended for roughage extraction or grazing.