DADEVILLE, Mo. -- John Melton's dairy barn is empty. His pastures are mostly empty. Late last year, milk production suddenly dropped off, even while he added more cows and fed them grain twice a day.
“They weren't starving but they looked terrible,” Melton said recently.
He has only a few cows left. The rest of his herd died quickly, in droves. He lost about 250 cows and calves. Surrounding farms are not affected.
“It’s only on this property, whatever it is,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anything close to this as far as a death loss is concerned,” said Dr. Dallas Cramer.
Cramer is one of 26 baffled veterinarians and animal pathologists who can only conclude the deaths were not from disease or starvation.
“When they get debilitated, they don't recover,” said Cramer.
Melton says his cows started dying after his tap water temporarily turned blue one day, despite no signs anything was wrong with his water well.
