Farmer blames

[27vet]

He's been smoking cow dung.

[BrokenKey]

and I always thought death ray beef was hormone free - hmph, this ruins my chili recipe.

[blueandi]

Severe malnutrition does cause hair loss in people, perhaps it also does in cows.

It does, as a degree student in agriculture, I am appalled by this. He is obviously in need of medical help. He is being charged with not seeking a vet when the animals are sick, like any other competent farmer would. Just because he is feeding them, doesn't automatically mean they can't starve. Ruminants have complicated digestive systems, and any upset to that can easily kill them.

As a farmer he should know that, which points to his sanity being questionable. Shocking that 250 animals have been allowed to die before authorities got involved!

[Farmerboy]

As a farmer I can sympathise with him although the death ray idea is a little nuts, although seeing 250 of your stock die would drive me up the wall too. The cows in the video seem to be well enough cared for and the field looks to be well bedded with hay which aint cheap. Raising cattle takes alot of time, money and dedication so I doubt he'd be doing them harm just to go with his story.

The authorities and vets often look down on and dont take farmers seriously so why look for the cause when they can take the easy route and blame the farmer. A few vets in my area are known for this and are known as Dr Death as theyll put the animal down even though itcould be easily treated.

I may be wrong but the way he mentioned that the problems occur after rain would suggest maybe a parasite as some use water to move to the host, and some enter by burrowing into the skin which would explain the red mark on the nose as its the only bare skin touching the ground whilst grazing. It would be interesting to know the ages of the dead cattle as the young and the very old would be at the most risk of infection.

[MidKn13ght]

Hmm i still think noisy cricket is more powerful then the death ray....

[julia52]

this story interested me for several reasons when i saw it a few days ago..

first off, the title..did the farmer actually say 'death ray'? or was it yet one more sensationalized header to get people to laugh and be derisive of the concept of something unknown causing animal deaths? this is a big tendency lately, to downplay any sort of news that might be deemed 'unusual'..i always wonder about that.

next..thanks to the one poster who noticed that his other cattle appeared fine. now, 250 cattle over a ten year period, that would mean 25 cattle a year approximately. i am not a rancher, but i lived on land that they were able to use for 'grazing rights'(good old arizona), and i got to know quite a few over the years. it does not make any rational sense to starve a small percentage of the herd, especially when one cow is worth in the area of at least $1,000..(az prices). that's $25,000 a year! so he doesn't spend an extra thousand on feed to lose that kind of dough? but why? and--obviously he has been a rancher for some time, so he knows what he needs to earn in order to keep the place running...and why, oh why risk the derision of not just people here, but the locals who he has to deal with? and--ten years he was doing this? what, did his neighbors have their heads firmly planted up their you-know-whats? i lived by an infamous 'dog lady' okay..and let me tell you, the minute that someone saw she was less than attentive, they swooped down so fast on her it made her head spin..

according to the article, he has been posting videos on this for awhile..why do this? do any of you know what it's like to come upon an animal dead and/or mutilated and not from natural causes? well, unfortunately, i do..and unfortunately, i also saw what happened when the sheriff came. they looked at these two cows who were 'dissected' is the only word for it; nice neat cuts, tho, at least--and yes, no blood--and said 'uh, well, we think it's dogs,,,and that's the end of it. now bury them' and so they did...along with anything else that might have been discovered...

for anyone who wants to actually research this subject--and boy is there a lot to know--may i suggest looking up phil hoyle and the apfu which has had a rash of animal deaths that is almost unbelieveable, many which coincided with ufo sightings. now, there are also other things that have been found, such as mass cattle deaths in new mexico which appeared to be attributed to some unknown gas; another to a unidentifiable organism which appeared to somehow get inside the actual animal; some of these animals did, in fact, show a small 'pinprick' on their bodies; no way to tell if this was insertion point, but it is an odd coincidence

so...what i foresee is that this guy is going to go down; lose his cattle, probably go bankrupt..be made an 'example'; that's right, an example of why you shouldn't talk about aliens...after all, that's all craziness, right? and meanwhile, more animals will die, canada will continue their enormous increase in sightings, and we can point our fingers at this old man who wanted to tell something and will be silenced forever.

[Coffey]

first off, the title..did the farmer actually say 'death ray'? or was it yet one more sensationalized header to get people to laugh and be derisive of the concept of something unknown causing animal deaths? this is a big tendency lately, to downplay any sort of news that might be deemed 'unusual'..i always wonder about that.

You have a point with that. Like with the "Bath salts" thing.

[Myles]

I think the guy just trying to get out of the charges.

[Varelse]

He's been smoking cow dung.

The kind with little long skinny white stems with little hats growing out of the top? Mmmmmmm.

Edited June 21, 2012 by Framling