Antibiotics change carbon cycling

https://www.labmanager.com/news/2019/10/researchers-find-multiple-effects-on-soil-from-manure-from-cows-administered-antibiotics?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTERS_LM_Monitor_2019&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=77936185&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--gOVEbf8cH8nyQwqprvThsT049skwlz6pfuOLeAIAp6KhNIM3_dC4VXbHZ0p_FiB8F0rx9G1d8-VyuvTNS1AGpoGj8jw&_hsmi=78038181#.XaX71HdFy70

Most people on this forum's response to this is probably, "no shit", but it's nice to see good experiments coming out in the mainstream scientific literature.  I think it's funny that the authors suggest we may not want to use manure as fertilizer because of this research, instead of not using constant antibiotics in raising cattle. Anyway.

No shit. Good one.

-CK

hey Chris
brought most of my plants in over the past couple days
except some really amazing smelling herbs which i dont mind being out until frost

The results of this fine study should be expected, antibiotics attack bacteria by design, so the fact that cattle dung from antibiotic treated cows disrupts the bacterial growth and population is not unexpected or should not be unexpected, along with an increase in fungal growth and spread.
This is simply another way the "few feed all" misconception of food supply has created a dire situation both for the breakdown of the fecal matter and the cows getting sick with no recourse but to either let the illness run its course or destroy the animals.
Ranchers have to decide, do they want to let their cows live life as nature intended or are they going to insist on continuing the Nature disruptive practice of feed lots.
If we don't at least restructure the current beef market methods, it will come to a time when we have no healthy cattle, at that point, feeding the world from a few countries will cease because the cattle are dying and we can't do anything about it because we have created the ultimate super "bug".

Cow dung is now at the point where if you don't fully compost it in a fungal setting, the antibacterial compounds will end up persisting in the soil and plant growth and development will slow or cease.

Once again humans have gotten in the way of their own survival by setting up a situation primed for food shortages (famine) to occur and from the past we can determine that when it comes along, wars will break out, with food being the objective of the invaders.

Redhawk

What would happen if you put the antibiotic-contaminated manure through a methane bioreactor? Would there be non-bacterial organisms that would decompose the contaminated material, or would it be impossible to get a reaction at all?

I know a horse farmer who had a special spot that she dumped her manure if she had to treat a horse for a problem. She tried to be organic in all ways, but her horses were expensive so she was prepared to compromise when there was no other choice. That's a totally different level of problem compared to feed lots full of overcrowded animals producing tons of manure which are going to resist natural, safe decomposition into healthy soil-building end product.

I expect that methanogenesis will be inhibited, and its severity dependent on the level of contamination.

What we need is an actively aerated compost extract brewed from antibiotic-resistant beneficial soil bacteria, the whole gamut, and as much antibiotic-adapted soil life as is practicable. If we brew those up, they can be applied to feedlots and their mountains of waste. It will still have dangerous levels of residual antibiotic, but at least something living will be able to get a toe-hold, starting the biological remediation process.

-CK

Jay,
I agree, a single legitimately sick individual (livestock or human) who will be able to recover and be healthy again if given a course of antibiotics is not a serious problem.  Feeding every single animal a prophylactic and growth promoting (at horrible cost) constant stream of antibiotics is a huge problem that has already driven a rise in pathogenic antibiotic resistant strains, as well as the negative consequences identified in the above paper. I have a sick feeling that we'll continue to uncover more and more negative consequences of the practice as well, much as RedHawk has outlined.