How To Treat, Prevent and Mitigate Mold Poisoning By Will Winter, DVM

1) ENZYMES. 

A famous web- site health doctor once got afla-toxin poisoning from consuming raw ground beef and treated himself by chugging over 400 capsules of digestive enzymes over the next few hours. He’s not sure he would have died otherwise, but he recuperated beautifully. Enzymes are great for travel or when eating at events, conferences or restaurants. There are specific products for livestock but due to cost they are primarily limited to new-born animals or pets.

2) APPLE CIDER VINEGAR.

A daily dose of ACV offers many benefits, including improved prevention against mold poisonings. I have given as much as 16-32 oz of ACV to animals down with poisoning. Giving it daily is a great insurance policy.

3) DETOX CLAYS. 

The most common examples are Redmond’s Conditioner, mostly bentonite clay, and Desert Detox clay, which is mostly montmorillonite. In addition, some specific clays are sold as “detox” clays and these include zeolite and the above clays as well. These clays help remove all the various endophyte mycotoxins including ergot, fescue, fusarium, and aspergillus aflatoxin. As a side benefit, clays are known to chelate, bind and remove heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, lead, aluminum, arsenic as well as insecticides, herbicides and other poisons.

These clays are good keep on hand. I recommend that all livestock have constant access to free-choice detox clay year-round. They may go long periods without consuming it, but when they’re sick, they pound it. We’ve seen dairy cows that were forced to eat fusarium-infected silage consume up to a pound of clay every day, by choice. When we suspect possible contamination, we often add an enticer such as molasses, honey, salt or sugar to the clay to encourage daily consumption. I typically add 20-50 pounds of clay to each ton of livestock ration. Clay can also be mixed up to 50:50 with loose salt in cases of pollution or contamination.

4) HUMATES. 

These black powders especially benefit a healthy microbiome and help rid the body of any poison. This includes all the mycotoxins as well as the heavy metals and manmade-cides. I designed a product called PDQ Rescue that has humates, clay and megadose vitamin C; put 4 oz in 100 gallons of drinking water to dose, or top- dress on feed.

5) ACTIVATED CHARCOAL.

Doctors and veterinarians prefer to use this emergency medica- tion in all cases of suspected or known poisoning. Fortunately, no known side effect or complication can deter usage when in doubt. We don’t use it on an ongoing basis but for acute cases I don’t know of anything stronger.

6) BAKING SODA. 

This can be easily added to feed or supplements and does a superb job of correcting pH problems as well as toxic systems. I have mixed in equal parts, clay, bicarb and humates for a universal detox product. The company Nature’s Best LLC markets this as NB56.

7) CHLOROPHYLL. 

Leafy green plants are natural detoxifiers but endophyte problems tend to occur during dormant periods of the year. However, supplements such as chlorella, spirulina and seaweeds, and also cilantro can do wonders.

8) TEA TREE OIL, GARLIC, GRAPEFRUIT SEED EXTRACT, AND HYDROGEN PEROXIDE are not only excellent non-toxic cleaning products for such problems as black mold but each of them can be used orally (as directed by an expert) for both prevention and treatment of mold poisoning.

Don’t let these tiny enemies take you, or your animals, to the grave early. There will be plenty of time for them to eat you up when you are dead. Remember: Nature always bats last.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing here should count as medical advice. Readers should exercise their own judgement with regard to all herd health decisions. Nothing here is intended to replace actual advice by your own health care professional or veterinarian.

Will Winter is a retired veterinarian, holistic herd health consultant and livestock nutritionist as well as traveling teacher focusing on sustainable livestock production and traditional nutrition. Reach him at: willwinter [email protected] or practicallivestocksolutions.com or 612-756-1232