by Whitney Flach
Last week, someone put a tractor battery in the feeder wagon in Alvord, Iowa. The battery was ground up with the feed and fed to 100 cattle on Sunday. Soon after, steer started getting sick and dying.
Samples of blood and tissue were sent to Iowa State University’s lab toxicology results which showed extremely high, untreatable and unprecedented levels of lead poisoning.
Joel Moser farmer of poisoned cattle says, he’s devastated. Not only is it hard for him to see the cattle he’s raise suffer and die, this will be at least a $100,000 loss for his family. “It’s awful. I’ve been upset. I’ve laid out here and bawled on them. I wouldn’t treat anything like this. Why would you do this to something? They’re sick, they’re blind, it’s awful. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen!” says Moser.
Lyon County Sheriff, Stewar VanderStoep expressed that they do not believe it was an accident. The Sheriff said the investigation is going on as a willful intention that somebody committed. With most farmers in Lyon County raising hogs and cattle, the sheriff’s office is concerned. It is unclear whether this will be the only farm affected. As of Friday afternoon, there are no suspects.
“Everyone needs to pay a little more attention to what’s going on on their farm. If a strange car shows up, don’t be afraid to call,” says VanderStoep.
