Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vsgnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T16:29:49.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of disposing high rates of copper-rich pig slurry on grassland on the health of grazing sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

H. I. Gracey ,
T. A. Stewart ,
J. D. Woodside  and
R. H. Thompson
H. I. Gracey
Affiliation:
Greenmount Agricultural and Hortictdtural College, Antrim, Northern Ireland
T. A. Stewart
Affiliation:
Greenmount Agricultural and Hortictdtural College, Antrim, Northern Ireland
J. D. Woodside
Affiliation:
Greenmount Agricultural and Hortictdtural College, Antrim, Northern Ireland
R. H. Thompson
Affiliation:
Veterinary Research Laboratories, Stormont, Northern Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Over a 3-year period 900 m3/ha of copper-rich pig slurry were spread during the growing season on a 0·6 ha permanent grassland sward and the grass continually grazed off each season with the same sheep. A total of 47 kg Cu/ha were applied to the area and this increased the EDTA-extractable copper in the topsoil. Herbage copper concentrations clearly showed that sheep grazing the area were continually exposed to high concentrations, and that most of the copper was present as surface contamination. Large quantities of copper were excreted in the sheep faeces indicating that copper passed through the animal.

Monthly blood samples from the sheep showed that the enzyme glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) concentrations were slightly higher than those in sheep grazing an area which received no copper over the same period. By the end of the second season (October 1971) over 2000 i.u. GOT/1 were recorded in some sheep grazing the slurry treated area indicating severe liver breakdown at that time. However, during the winter when the sheep were inwintered, serum GOT concentrations decreased considerably. In the final grazing season a 0·2 ha area received monthly applications of copper sulphate instead of slurry. All sheep were slaughtered in November 1972 for post-mortem examination. There was little difference in the copper concentrations in the liver and kidneys of the sheep grazing the control and the slurry areas, although the sheep which grazed the copper sulphate area in the final season had higher concentrations.

As no sheep died from chronic copper poisoning during the course of the investigation there would appear to be little or no danger to the health of sheep from grazing land which is receiving pig slurry at rates which supply less than 16 kg Cu/ha/year.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 87 , Issue 3 , December 1976 , pp. 617 - 623
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alston, A.M. & McConaghy, S. (1965). The EDTAextraotable copper and zinc contents of soils in Northern Ireland. Record of Agricultural Research. Ministry of Agriculture, Northern Ireland 14, 49–59.Google Scholar
Batey, T., Berryman, C. & Line, C. (1972). The disposal of copper-enriched pig-manure slurry on grassland. Journal of the British Orassland Society 27, 139–43.Google Scholar
Berbyman, C. (1970). The problem of disposal of farm wastes with particular reference to maintaining soil fertility. Symposium Farm Wastes, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 01 1970, 19–23.Google Scholar
Biejers, J. A. (1932). Copper poisoning in sheep. Tijdschrift voor Diergeneeskunde 59, 1317–24.Google Scholar
Bowland, J. P., Braude, R., Chamberlain, A. G., Glascock, R. F. & Mitchell, K. G. (1961). The absorption, distribution and excretion of labelled copper in young pigs given different quantities, as sulphate or sulphide, orally or intravenously. British Journal of Nutrition 15, 59–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braude, R. (1965). Copper as a growth stimulant in pigs (Cuprum pro pecunia). Translations of a Symposium. Cuprum pro Vita, Vienna, pp. 55–66.Google Scholar
Bull, L. B. (1951). The occurrence of chronic copper poisoning in grazing sheep in Australia. Proceedings of the British Commonwealth Special Conference on Agriculture, Australia 1949, pp. 300–10.Google Scholar
Dalgarno, A. C. & Mills, C. F. (1975). Retention by sheep of copper from aerobic digests of pig faecal slurry. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 85, 11–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dick, A. T. & Bull, L. B. (1945). Some preliminary observations on the effect of molybdenum on copper metabolism in herbivorous animals. Australian Veterinary Journal 21, 70–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doherty, P. C., Barlow, R. M. & Angus, K. W. (1969). Spongy changes in the brains of sheep poisoned by excess dietary copper. Research in Veterinary Science 10, 303–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gracey, J. F. & Todd, J. R. (1960). Chronic copper poisoning in sheep following the use of copper sulphate as a molluscicide. British Veterinary Journal 116, 405–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutton, R. G. & Nye, P. H. (1958). The rapid determination of the major nutrient elements in plants. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 9, 7–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaneko, J. J. & Cornelius, C. E. (1970). Clinical Biochemistry of Domestic Animals, vol. 1 (1970) and vol. 2 (1971). New York and London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kneale, W. A. & Howell, J. McC.. (1974). Application of pig slurry to pasture: the effect on sheep of herbage copper. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production 3, 98.Google Scholar
McGill, A. E. J., Jackson, N. & Swinbourne, T. R. (1975). A study of the partition of copper in pig slurry and the effect of substrate copper content on the growth of Leptomitus lacteus. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 26, 779–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macpherson, A. & Hemingway, R. G. (1969). The relative merit of various blood analyses and liver function tests in giving an early diagnosis of chronic copper poisoning in sheep. British Veterinary Journal 125, 213–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nilsson, N. G. (1968). Copper poisoning in sheep. Nordisk Veterinaermedicin 20, 249–57.Google Scholar
O'callaghan, J. R., Dodd, V. A. & Pollock, K. A. (1973). The long term management of animal manures. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research 18, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogilvie, D. D. (1954). ‘Chronic’ copper poisoning of shoep. Veterinary Record 66, 279–82.Google Scholar
Pearson, J. K. L. (1956). Copper poisoning in sheep following the feeding of a copper-supplemented diet. Veterinary Record 66, 766–8.Google Scholar
Price, J. & Suttle, N. F. (1975). The availability to sheep of copper in pig slurry and slurry-dressed herbage. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 34, 9A–10A.Google ScholarPubMed
Pryor, W. J. (1959). An outbreak of copper poisoning in sheep following copper top dressing of pastures. Australian Veterinary Journal 35, 366–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, K., Draper, S. R. & Gelman, A. L. (1971). Biodegradation of pig waste: breakdown of soluble nitrogen, nitrogen compounds and the effect of copper. Environmental Pollution 2, 49–56.Google Scholar
Ross, D. B. (1964). Chronic copper poisoning in lambs. Veterinary Record 76, 875–6.Google Scholar
Shand, A. & Lewis, G. (1957). Chronic copper poisoning in young calves. Veterinary Record 69, 618–21.Google Scholar
Simesen, M. G. & Moller, T. (1969). Chronic copper poisoning of sheep. Danske Dyrloegeforening, Medlemsblad 52, 5–10.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. H. & Blastchflower, W. J. (1971). Wet-ashing apparatus to prepare biological materials for atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Laboratory Practice 20, 859–61.Google ScholarPubMed
Todd, J. R. (1969). Chronic copper toxicity of ruminants. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 28, 189–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Todd, J. R., Gracey, J. F. & Thompson, R. H. (1962). Studies on chronic copper poisoning. I. Toxicity of copper sulphate and copper acetate in sheep. British Veterinary Journal 118, 482–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, J. R. & Thompson, R. H. (1963). Studies of chronic copper poisoning. II. Biochemical studies on the blood of sheep during the haemolytic crisis. British Veterinary Journal 119, 161–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, J. R. & Thompson, R. H. (1964). Studies on chronic copper poisoning. III. Effects of copper acetate injected into the blood stream of sheep. Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics 74, 542–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulsen, F. W. (1972). Sheep, swine and copper. Tijdschrift voor Diergeneeskunde 97, 735–8.Google Scholar
Underwood, E. J. (1966). The mineral nutrition of livestock. Published for Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations by Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Van Adrichem, P. W. M. (1965). Changes in activity of serum enzymes and in the WDH iso enzyme pattern in chronic Cu poisoning of sheep. Tijdschrift voor Diergeneeskunde 90, 1371–81.Google Scholar