May 24, 2008 08:27 pm
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By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
GOLDEN CITY, Mo. — Darvin Bentlage has been connecting the dots, and he thinks they could spell trouble for his cattle.
Bentlage has three Angus herds in Barton County, where the number of hog CAFOs — confined animal feeding operations — is increasing. These CAFOs hold up to 2,500 hogs under one roof. Liquid waste from the hogs is put into lagoons and spread onto nearby farmland as fertilizer.
In 1998, Bentlage purchased 389 acres for his 1,160-acre farm operation and placed an Angus herd on it.
“I put cattle on it in 2000. I never had twins or I rarely ever had twins with three different herds. In 2001, I started having twins from 28 cows. Some were deformed. I have had 11 sets of twins since 2001. That’s way above the national average,” he said.
Bentlage said he should expect one set of twins from a herd of 200. He was getting one set out of 25.
“But what really bothered me was that they didn’t survive and some of them were deformed,” he said. “Only three of the 11 sets of twins survived. They all went full term, but some were born with no front legs or they were born hairless.
“It just seems odd that with the two other
herds I never have twins.”
Bentlage said his herd is downstream from a hog CAFO lagoon, which is 12 to 13 years old, and he wonders if wastewater has made its way into a creek used by the herd with the excessive numbers of twins.
“Lagoons are known to leak,” Bentlage alleged. “I know hog hormones affect cattle. We do embryo transplants. They use pig hormones to get cows to produce more eggs.”
Pew study
Two weeks ago, Bentlage received a copy of a new report by The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production in the United States.
He didn’t think much about it until he got to the part that sounded an alarm about “the routine use of specially-formulated feeds that incorporate antibiotics, other antimicrobials and hormones to prevent disease and induce rapid growth” in confined animals.
The report said the practice should be restricted because of growing concerns about the potential impact on humans and animals.
The recommendation was among several made by a 15-member panel of experts who have expertise in public policy, veterinary medicine, public health, agriculture, animal welfare and rural culture that looked at the impact of CAFOs over a period of 21/2 years. The commission was chaired by former Kansas Gov. John Carlin.
Bob Martin, chairman of the Pew group that looked at CAFOs, said the concern raised by Bentlage about his herd is justified.
“We have seen it elsewhere. Specific public health problems and threats to other species,” he said. “It’s what happens when you pack these animals together so closely. It’s particularly true with hog CAFOs and their liquid-waste management. We have seen that in Iowa and South Carolina.”
The Pew panel, he said, also documented that the downwind plume from hog CAFOs may cause higher rates of asthma among children stemming from the release of ammonia hydrogen sulfide and particulate matter from buildings in which the animals are confined.
“There are all sorts of pathogens in the waste,” Martin said. “It sits untreated in the lagoon and then it is sprayed on the ground untreated. It contains pathogens, excess antibiotics, excess hormones and heavy metals. Anything fed to the animal and excreted out can show up in the water.”
The Pew panel also found that the industry is not sufficiently regulated to protect nearby residents.
“Regulation varies widely from state to state. Most state regulation is not adequate. There are laws on the books, but not enough resources out in the field to regulate CAFOs,” he said. “We found that the agro-industrial complex has an overwhelmingly and undo amount of influence at most every level of government. They dominant the research, too.”
More research
Bentlage says he wants to find out whether his herd is being impacted by the hog CAFO and plans to contact a veterinarian with the College of Agriculture at the University of Missouri-Columbia to do a study. He also is looking for a laboratory to test water in the creek for antibiotics and growth hormones.
Dr. Robert Zinnikas, with Four Corners Embryo Transfer, of Langley, Okla., Bentlage’s veterinarian, said he would have do a lot more research before he could take a position on what’s happening with Bentlage’s herd.
Zinnikas, who handles artificial insemination chores for Bentlage, questioned whether the same bull was responsible for the twins. If so, there could be something wrong with the blood line; Bentlage said different bulls were used.
Bentlage and some of his neighbors have been at odds with Synergy LLC, of Lamar, the owner of the hogs, and the company challenged a vote last year by township residents. The residents attempted to control CAFOs at the township level by giving the township board authority to regulate the numbers of animals in a CAFO.
The board unanimously voted to place the issue on the ballot last fall. It was approved by 81 percent of the township’s voters.
A judge who was appointed to hear the case sided with the summary provided by the lawyers representing the companies.
That judge cited a zoning exemption for “farm structures,” and an alleged violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law by the township board and zoning board as reasons for his ruling. The zoning was overturned.
Rebecca Haskins, a spokeswoman for Synergy, could not be reached for comment by telephone to respond to Bentlage’s concerns.
But Paul Stefan, who owns a 10 percent stake in the hogs, said the use of antibiotics is strictly managed by the operators of the CAFOs and that he is not sure whether growth hormones are used with Synergy hogs.
Stefan also said the environment in modern hog barns is much better than it used to be and that the use of antibiotics to keep animals healthy in close quarters has actually declined from 30 years ago.
As far as Bentlage’s herd is concerned, Stefan said, “I think some other factor is doing that. I like facts. This is just a theory. I think Bentlage has some kind of vendetta against this.”
Stefan said cattle with access to creeks and streams, such as those owned by Bentlage, are contributing contaminants to the water, too.
Stefan said more CAFOs are coming to Barton County, saying “a modest expansion” is planned. As for state oversight by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, he said, “Yes they do come and check us out. We’ve been turned in by neighbors, and they have to come out every time there is a complaint. We have been visited by the DNR.”
Stefan said the hog CAFOs provide quality food at low cost to the American consumer. That echoes comments made last fall by Dan Cross, general manager of Synergy, an Iowa-based hog company with five breeding farms and seven independent nurseries in Barton County. He said farmers would make less money and consumers pay more for meat by raising pigs the old-fashioned way. He also said he’s not convinced it’s possible to raise enough animals to feed everyone without CAFOs.
“The hog business is becoming more difficult all the time, and it takes a larger scope of operation to even make it profitable,” he said.
‘Roulette’
Zach McGuire, a farmer who lives near Bentlage, has taken his airplane aloft to count the number of CAFOs in Barton County and where they are located. McGuire also was a member of the Richland Township Zoning Board at the time of the vote that was overturned by the judge.
“They are all, it seems, connected to a theme in that they are placed next to a creek or a stream. It’s going on all over the county and nobody seems to notice it,” he said. “The Web site for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources shows six registered CAFOs in the county.
“I have counted 60 Class 2 and 11 Class 1 poultry and hogs CAFO in the eastern two-thirds of Barton County.”
Bentlage questions the cumulative effect of the CAFOs and the fact that so many lagoons are positioned near creeks and streams.
“Parking a lagoon right on a creek, well, that’s just Russian roulette,” Bentlage said. “The Pew report goes right along with what we have been saying. It was a 2/12-year study where they went out to find out the good things about CAFOs. That study more or less speaks the truth. These CAFOs, because there are so many of them, are affecting country people and their livestock.”
The Pew panel also found that agricultural corporations can control the market, shutting out independent farmers from the marketplace.
“It has created real problems for rural communities,” Martin said. “The contract growers are really serfs on their own land. The contracts are very restrictive. They can only sell their hogs to a contract producer.
“We are recommending that the federal government aggressively enforce anti-trust laws to limit the power of integrators to give family producers a better shot at the market. We need new laws to help level the playing field so that everyone can get access to a market, not just the contract growers. They can’t find a place to take your hogs to slaughter because the slaughter houses are all owned by the parent companies.”
Martin said the existing system that is used to raise hogs is not the only model available to growers, but it is the least costly way to do business.
“We’re not trying to go back to the 1950s, but there is a confinement system called a hoop barn that is better for the animals. The waste is composted. You don’t need hormones and antibiotics. But more people would be involved in agriculture.
“What is happening now is not good for the animals or good for the environment, but the company makes more profit.”
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Photos
Globe/T. Rob Brown
Darvin Bentlage, a rural Golden City farmer, checks cattle as they graze on pasture. Bentlage’s herd is downstream from a lagoon used by a hog CAFO. Bentlage is investigating if wastewater has made its way into a creek used by his herd.