Three witnesses told jurors Thursday that the mysterious escalation of illness and death in the Boyce family's prize-winning cattle herd was nothing short of unprecedented.
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"I'd never seen anything so devastating to animals as what I saw at the Boyce farm," said Bill Craven, a retired Burke County Extension director who has worked with dairy farmers for 33 years.
Mr. Craven unsuccessfully tried to help Bill Boyce and his family diagnose whatever sickened and killed their cattle in the late 1990s.
"They did everything they could to sort out the reason the cows were dying," he said, adding that he attributes the problems to improperly treated sewage sludge applied as fertilizer to their pastures.
Several witnesses testified Thursday on behalf of Boyceland dairy, which is suing Augusta for $12.5 million over claims that toxic metals from the city's sewage sludge poisoned their land and cattle.
The Boyce farm received 23.4 million gallons of sludge, which was touted as a beneficial fertilizer, from 1986 to 1998.
Under cross examination by Perry Sentell, one of Augusta's three defense lawyers, Mr. Craven admitted he could not elaborate on specific levels of metals that were considered toxic to cattle.
"Are you a vet?" Mr. Sentell asked. "A toxicologist?"
"No," Mr. Craven replied.
Asked how he could therefore conclude the sludge was the culprit, Mr. Craven said his opinions were based on simple "country judgment" and common sense.
"The Boyce farm was the only one in Burke County with sludge on it, and it was the only one with dying cows," he said.
Ray Bennett, a Madison, Ga., cattle broker with 44 years in the dairy industry, testified that he examined the Boyce's widely respected herd in December 1998, and was "floored" at what he found.
"I never saw a herd in worse condition," he said, adding that - as a broker - he examines 50 to 100 large herds of cattle each year. "It was as bad a herd as I've ever seen."
A third witness - cattle nutritionist Holly Ballantine - also testified that the spike in mortality in the Boyce herd was unheard of.
The cause, Dr. Ballantine said, is the density of heavy metals contained in sewage sludge applied to the Boyce pastures.
Under cross examination by Jim Ellison, another of Augusta's defense lawyers, Dr. Ballantine was asked whether typical cattle ailments, such as Johne's Disease and bovine viral diarrhea, might have caused the deaths.
She responded that there were no widespread signs of known diseases in the Boyce herd - and reiterated her belief that the culprit was forage grown on sludge-treated fields and fed to cattle.
Reach Robert Pavey at (706) 868-1222, ext. 119, or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
