Accidental ammonia exposure to county fair show livestock due to contaminated drinking water

Nitrogen based fertilizers represent an important element in the farm economy, but their storage and use are associated with major risks to livestock and humans. An accidental ammonia exposure occurred at a Midwest county fair in Illinois. Six deaths occurred in show livestock; a Holstein cow, 3 Holstein heifers, a goat, and a lamb. Mortality was associated with consumption of water inadvertently contaminated with a liquid fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate and urea commonly used for irrigating agricultural crop fields and brought onto the fairgrounds by a tanker truck previously used to transport liquid fertilizer. The show animals that drank the contaminated water immediately became ill, developed seizures and died within a few hours. Postmortem findings were unremarkable to nonspecific. Rumen contents from the lamb, Holstein cow, and Holstein heifer had ammonia-nitrogen concentrations of l,000, 1,150 and 1,440 ppm, respectively. Water from the heifer's water bucket, the cow's water bucket, and the tanker truck, had nitrate levels of 6,336, 6,116, and 6,248 ppm, respectively. The ammonia toxicosis was attributed to the contaminated water brought onto the fairgrounds by the tankertruck that previously transported liquid ammonium nitrateand urea. This accident underscores the importance of meticulous observation of safety guidelines and measured working practices in agriculture and animal husbandry.