BSK
Well-Known Member
wcsd462 said:BSK/Wes
Ok... Since I dont know everything, and I like to keep an open mind on things tell me, what causes these problems? Are these diseases caused by what Wes called "bad corn" or are they something that deer just get and then spread when the infected animal comes in contact with another deer. What is bad corn or bad feed? I do know It doesnt need to lay on the groung and rot.
wcsd462,
Two different problems were talking about here. The first is contagious disease transmission at feeder sites. Infectious organisms (bacteria and viruses) generally will not live long outside of the host's (infected animal's) body. Another animal must place it's nose/mouth/eyes on that infectious organism fairly quickly (hours) to become infected.
When deer feed naturally, they do not place their mouths on the same food source in rapid succession. As a group of deer feed, they spread out and each deer bites off just the best part of a particular plant. Since the best part of that particular twig/plant has already been eaten, other deer in the group will not feed on that plant, reducing the opportunity for an infectious organism deposited by the first deer to be picked up by the other deer. However, with feeders, every deer in a group and all following groups place their mouths/noses right into the exact spot every preceding deer did in rapid succession so saliva and other fluids are rapidly shared between many deer, GREATLY increasing the spread of any contagious disease. The differences in the transmission rate of a contagious disease between deer feeding/behaving naturally and those feeding from feeders is astronomical.
The second problem discussed is aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is the byproduct of a specific type of mold that grows on many cereal grains, but is most often found on corn. Even very, very tiny amounts of aflatoxin can be fatal to wildlife, and even if it isn't immediately fatal, it will cause permanent liver damage that will cause that animal to be unhealthy for life.
Because of this risk, many states require any corn sold for feeding to livestock OR wildlife must be certified aflatoxin free (have been tested and shown to contain no aflatoxin). TX is one of those states. Unfortunately, TN is not one of those states. Since there is no requirment to ensure corn is aflatoxin free in TN, producers from states that do have this requirement dump all their aflatoxin-tainted corn into the TN market. In fact, it can be extremely difficult to find corn for sale in TN that is certified aflatoxin free. Much of the "deer corn" sold in our state has a tag on it saying that it may contain up to 20 parts per billion of aflatoxin, which is enough to kill every adult turkey that eats it.
The mold that produces aflatoxin grows fastest in hot, wet weather. That is why feeding corn in the summer, especially in the South, is such a bad idea. I've seen fresh corn poured out yet within three days of wet weather the corn is a pile of gray fur it has so much mold on it. Any animal that ate that corn is probably dead.