Council to seek legal advice on banning manure

Cork County Council is to seek legal advice on whether it can ban the “importation” into the county of manure which has been claimed to contain chicken carcasses and which has led to an outbreak of botulism in cattle.

At a meeting in County Hall yesterday, a number of councillors echoed IFA concerns about the increase in cattle botulism in parts of North Cork, where the manure is being spread.

Farming bodies and councillors said carrion crows are picking up the remains of the carcasses and transferring the disease from fields where the manure is being spread into adjoining fields where cattle are grazing.