I thought I'd pass on food for thought from another sector.
This is snip-it from a Highland List
Dave forgot the other 2 letters in CCA treated wood, chromium & arsenic.
But the last tid bit is an amazing though typical bit of news these daze.
Markess
Treated lumber is ok for Highlands, I've always believed, because the
chemical used to treat the wood is copper sulfate. I'm under the
impression that small amounts of copper are fine for ruminants and
fowl, although horses shouldn't have much of it. In fact, if I'm not
mistaken, copper is added to feed and free-choice mineral for cattle.
We don't use treated wood around horses because they are quite
sensitive to copper and too much of it can cause health problems. I'm
under the impression that horses can become ill just from eating high
protein mineral blocks designed for cattle.
Interesting side note about cattle minerals: I've done some
communications work for a company that operates a recycling facility
for computers. First they divide the old computers into four basic
piles - glass, plastic, wire, circuit boards. Glass, plastics and wire
are crunched, melted, and recycled through normal channels. Circuit
boards are ground up and processed into the basic elements from which
they were manufactured, resulting in boxes of powered copper,
magnesium, zinc, and so on. These mineral powders are sold to animal
feed producers who add the mineral powders as supplements to grain.
The old computers completely disappear as steers are finished in the
feed lot, eventually ending up at your neighborhood grocer's meat
counter as a Sirloin Tip Roast.
Dave
Grand Rapids, Michigan
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