Warning to take care when selecting feed

Aug. 27, 2014, 5:14 p.m.

BUYING feed for cattle, sheep or goats? If you are then it is very important that you buy only feed that is specifically for your livestock species.

Smithton beef farmer Matthew Lester surrounded by the lush green hormone and antibiotic free grass feed to his cattle.

BUYING feed for cattle, sheep or goats?

If you are then it is very important that you buy only feed that is specifically for your livestock species.

It is an offence to give any of your ruminants feed that contains "Restricted Animal Material", known as RAM for short. RAM includes meat, meat and bone meal, fishmeal or other animal meals.

The ban on feeding RAM to ruminants is an important measure to prevent mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep.

If you buy pellets, other processed feed or grain for your livestock, check the bag to see if it contains RAM. If it does, it may be fed to pigs and poultry but not to cattle, sheep, goats or any other ruminant. The law requires that bags of livestock feed are clearly marked as to whether the feed contains RAM.

Facial eczema in cattle

DPIPWE has recently detected a high Pythomyces chartarum spore count on a northern Tasmanian property.

See the original post:
Warning to take care when selecting feed