Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnGoat
As far the chicken shit can be toxic for the cows, YES this is one of the main causes of MAD COW Disease. We will cover this in the chicken part of this tread. Chicken can wreak a farm!!
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This is incorrect - I verified with the former manager/assistant director for the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center (aka MRFL).
Cattle fed with feeds containing chicken feces also are likely have cattle parts which, prior to strict regulations due to BSE (Mad Cow), could be from downer cattle that may or may not have had BSE. Thus, chicken feces in the feed is associated with Mad Cow (via feed also using downer beef), but not believed to be a cause.
The current understanding is prion disease is only transmissed through direct exposure to "infected" nervous tissue. As MRFL put it - the chickens would have to be literally shitting their brains out to cause this. 
HTH
ETA: E. coli and other pathogenic bacteria are found in feces and can be toxic to the cattle, however. So the chicken scat is not harmless.
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