About 20,000 livestock farmers in seven prefectures have been asked to refrain from grazing cattle for the time being because radioactive substances in excess of safety limits have been found in pastures, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry's request, made to prevent milk and beef from being contaminated with radioactive substances, will affect 700,000 head of cattle and cost an additional 50 billion yen a year in forage.
"If we have to buy forage, we'll incur more than 10 million yen in additional costs," Kenji Takahashi, 47, sighed in front of 60 tons of hay at his farm. Takahashi breeds 150 milk cows in Isumi, Chiba Prefecture.
In Ichihara, four kilometers from Isumi, 1,100 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram of grass were found in pastureland on April 28.
Livestock farmers in Isumi have been instructed by the Chiba prefectural government not to feed cows with fodder from the area.
Besides Chiba Prefecture, radioactive substances have been found in grass in excess of safety limits in Iwate, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi and Saitama prefectures.
Grass takes root in shallow soil and therefore tends to absorb more radioactive substances.
The ministry has asked local governments to urge livestock farmers to refrain from having milk cows graze in pastures or fed with hay when radioactive iodine is in excess of 70 becquerels or cesium in excess of 300 becquerels per kilogram of grass.
With regard to beef cattle, no safety limit has been set for radioactive iodine, which has a short half-life, while a safety limit of 300 becquerels has been set for radioactive cesium.
According to the farm ministry, most of the 20,000 livestock farmers in the seven prefectures, with the exception of certain areas, have complied with the ministry's request.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110517005442.htm
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