Sheep and Cattle Are in Danger From Volcanic Ash

Air passengers have been crying fowl because of the volcanic ash problems in Europe and South America. It is not only humans who are suffering. Sheep and cattle have no grass to eat because ash on the ground has turned to sludge. The provinces of Rio Negro, Chubut and Neuquen in Argentina are in dire straits.

Farmers have to put sheep in pens and feed them. There is no clean pasture to move them to. Many farmers from the Atlantic Ocean to Chile have nothing to give their sheep and there is a shortage of pens. There are fears that sheep and cows could go blind if they eat the poisonous sludge. Cows and horses are trying to separate clean grass with their hooves but sheep cannot remove the ash so easily.

The volcanic ash is a phenomenon farmers have never faced before. Local deer are blindly stumbling around. Cows have already lost a quarter of their weight. Argentina is one of the world's major beef exporters. If the volcano remains active meat prices could soon rise.
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Agriculture