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Pesticides in the Tamworth Pastures Protection Board
G.W. Eggleston, B.V.Sc., Veterinary Inspector, TAMWORTH NSW
Over the past 12 months chemical residues in cattle have become an increasing problem in the Tamworth Pastures Protection Board. The main chemicals involved have been dieldrin, heptachlor and hexachlorobenzene.
The reason for this is probably that during the drought graziers obtained whatever feed they could get hold of to feed their stock with, and some of this fodder has been contaminated with the chemicals described above.
As well as this, there have been cases where new owners have unknowingly purchased properties where chemicals have been used to treat white ants, etc. around cattle yards and hay sheds.
There have been a number of interesting cases, and the first one I wish to describe is where a cattle owner decided to set up a feedlot in his cattle yards and a traceback was received from the abattoir for dieldrin with a level of 2.6 parts per million. An initial test of 30 animals in the feedlot showed that 8 of them had unacceptable levels with the highest level being 1.6 parts per million. The feedlot was placed under detention and this presented the owners with a liquidity problem as they had payments to meet at the bank as a result of the drought and we were preventing them from selling cattle. So that the owners could meet these payments, it was decided to test all animals in the feedlot that were ready to be sold and this involved the testing of 200 cattle. This testing could not have been done without the help of brucellosis assistants at Tamworth. Eventually, this feedlot was released from quarantine after it was found that the source of contamination was barley that the owner had brought in from Moree and he immediately stopped feeding this barley enabling the levels to fall.
Another case was where a property was bought and the owners decided to use existing cattle yards as an opportunity feedlot, again to fatten vealers during the drought. A level of 1.8 parts per million was obtained on an abattoir trace back. 30 beasts were tested and 10 were found to have unacceptable levels. The source of dieldrin, which was the contaminating chemical in this case, was found to be in posts in the cattle yard and in posts in the hay shed and, of course, the dieldrin disseminated out from the posts in the hay shed contaminating the hay, which had been fed to the animals in the feedlot. A further problem was that beasts in the feed lot were becoming bored and were chewing the feedlot posts and this added to the overall contamination. The only way that we could get the contaminated animals under the acceptable level was to abandon the feedlot altogether. This presented the owners with some problems as they had spent much money on feed, had payments to meet at the Bank and, of course, were not able to sell many of these vealers for two to three months, due to the lack of other feed on the property.
Both these cases highlight the problem where innocent people are caught as a result of the Stock Chemical Residues Act and can be financially embarrassed. Perhaps thought should be given to sore type of compensation in these areas.
Another case is where a grazier fed seed wheat to cattle which had been treated with hexachlorobenzene. In this particular case, the owner is faced with the possibility of having cattle under detention for three or four years.
We have also had a case where a lady treated her lawn with dieldrin and heptachlor to get rid of any worms. Not knowing the consequences, she mowed the lawn and threw the clippings over the fence where some milking cows and calves ate them. These cows and calves consequently were contaminated with dieldrin and heptachlor.
We have also had problems with graziers using public watering points on stock routes to fill tanks when spraying crops. In the course of doing this, dieldrin and heptachlor have been spilt on the ground around these points contaminating it. The Board now has to go to the expense of rectifying this problem so that the stock routes are safe for grazing cattle and sheep.
As can be seen, there are numerous problems regarding the Stock Chemical Residues Act which have not been solved at this point. Perhaps the Department could take a look at the whole Act and see if some changes can be made.