History and archived updates on Alpaca Deaths in Ohio caused by poisonous

Land O' Lakes feed

Organized in chronological order

History of the incident: On a Tuesday morning, March 18th 2003, Magical Farms was confronted with tragedy.  In the early hours of the morning we found 12 of our male alpacas dead with no apparent outward signs of trauma or obvious cause of death.  Many others were extremely lethargic, refusing to eat, drink, or stand, and displaying some shaking primarily in their front legs and their heads.  The problem was linked directly to a batch of feed mixed by Land O' Lakes that was heavily tainted with a substance poisonous to alpacas.  This somehow slipped through their quality control measures, and the tainted alpaca feed was distributed widely across northern Ohio (click here for an example of a label from this batch) .  Many farms were affected.

The total number of alpacas killed here at Magical Farms due to this poisonous feed is now over 100, with over 250 additional alpacas affected.

This feed was distributed to many farms in Northern Ohio, and while the collective numbers of tainted alpaca feed deaths in Ohio are still not completely clear, they have been estimated at over 150, with more than 1000 animals afflicted in some way.

Unfortunately, Land O' Lakes has not been model corporate citizens regarding this incident.  While they have admitted to a mixing error and quality control problems that ultimately caused these deaths, they have not taken responsibility or offered any financial help with our loss claims.  They have not paid for, or even helped with, our substantial veterinary bills directly related to the tainted feed.  They have instead decided to take this through the court system and the situation is now in litigation.  There are several other alpaca farms who have also been forced to go this route, and presently have lawsuits filed against Land O' Lakes as well.

This poisonous feed has killed and maimed many valuable and lovely alpacas.  This poisonous feed has put some smaller alpaca farms completely out-of-business, and has had an enormous negative impact on some larger farms.  We are sad to report that Land O Lakes has not been adhering to their own Chairman's  "Culture of Accountability" when it comes to making amends for their mistakes (the Chairman's speech linked here was, incidentally, given two days prior to the mixing of the Feb 28th batch of alpaca feed).  If they supposedly hold themselves accountable for their actions within their organization, should they not also hold themselves accountable to their customers?

Instead of helping or resolving loss claims in a timely fashion, they have taken a "so sue us" attitude and they continue to use stall tactics while substantial veterinary bills, emotional tolls, and significant business losses continue to mount at affected farms.  Sadly, the situation is currently in litigation.

Jun 2004 -- A Bloomberg News Story was widely circulated -  read the June 25, 2004 Bloomberg News Story

Oct 2004 -- Big changes planned for the Massillon Plant where the poisonous feed was mixed - are they covering tracks?  This following 'upgrade' was announced on October 27th by Robert DeGregorio, who subsequently resigned on November 12th.  The following is from the Land O Lakes corporate website "News Releases" section:

October 27, 2004 (Arden Hills, Minn.) – The Land O'Lakes Massillon, Ohio, feed plant has been slated for a $6 million expansion and upgrade, the national agricultural cooperative announced today.

Construction will begin this fall, plant upgrades will begin in early 2005, and completion is slated for early 2006.  “... we are increasing our manufacturing capability and capacity at Massillon to include production of most of our dry and texturized lifestyle products, for all brands that we distribute in the region.”  Specific facility additions and enhancements will include ...  modifying mixing and pelleting systems.

 Dec 2004 -- Shakeups are happening at LOL in their executive branch and their feed division.  From the Land O Lakes corporate website "News Releases" section:

Dec. 14, 2004 - (Arden Hills, Minn.)…Jack Gherty, President and Chief Executive Officer of Land O'Lakes, Inc., today announced that he will be retiring from Land O'Lakes at the end of December 2005.

December 7, 2004 - Arden Hills, Minn. – Land O'Lakes, Inc. today announced that Fernando Palacios has been named Executive Vice President of Feed, effective immediately. Palacios replaces Robert M. DeGregorio, who resigned on November 12, 2004.

Feb 2005 -- Chairman of the Board of Land O' Lakes Inc. Pete Kappelman speaks at LOL's annual meeting.  For a full reproduction of this press release, visit the Media Center on LOL's corporate site.  Below are a few excerpts:

"This meeting’s theme is ‘Proud Heritage, Powerful Brands,’” Kappelman said. “Our heritage as a cooperative is a bit like looking at one of our family photo albums. That’s because the history—the growth and success—of our farms and ranches is interwoven with the growth and success of Land O’Lakes."

Please revisit the pictures and video above for the Magical Farms part of that "growth and success" photo album as it "interweaves" with Land O' Lakes.  His speech goes on to mention their heritage of ethics and integrity:

"In addition to the board’s responsibilities, Kappelman addressed Land O’Lakes responsibilities as a corporate, community and global citizen. “As I look at this cooperative, I believe we can take pride in the organization that we and our predecessors have built,” he said. “In today’s business environment, we can take special pride in our heritage of ethics and integrity."

Read the history of the incident below and decide for yourself if their "ethics and integrity", or their "corporate citizenry" are something to take pride in.

Apr 2005 -- Hiding behind a new name?  Land O' Lakes Purina Feed is re-branding their alpaca feed and discontinuing the "Profile" line.  Also, it is interesting to note their comments about ionophore-free mills in the second paragraph of their informational flyer about this feed.

Sep 2005 --  We accommodated LOL's hired expert, Anthony Stachowski, as he assessed animals and prepared LOL an evaluation of each of the affected and dead animals.

Oct/Nov 2005 --  Depositions, depositions, depositions - LOL's council has now taken full depositions of almost 20 of Magical's employees.  The cutoff for the discovery process was November 1st, 2005.

January 5th 2006 -- Unfortunately, the continuance LOL requested in January was granted and the new trial date is set for sometime in June of 2006, 3 years and 3 months after the deaths of so many alpacas. We have not only suffered outrageous death and financial losses, but the affected farms will now continue to pile-on the enormous expenses involved in litigating this case for at least an additional 5 months.

February 2006 - while we're waiting... Below is some information from the FDA website's Freedom Of Information Act section.  First, the "Class I" classification of the recall of the alpaca feed in March of 2003 indicates that they immediately identified the batch of feed as deadly (see description of "Class I" below).  Additionally, the FDA states that the recall was issued by Land O' Lakes on March 19, 2003, but the first communication we received from them was on March 22, after 66 of our alpacas had already died:

March 2003, FDA classified a recall of Dr. Evans’ Alpaca Supplement, as a Class I recall. The Toxicology indicated possible salinomycin contamination of the feed supplement. Land O Lakes Farmland Feeds, LLC, Massillon, Ohio, issued the recall on March 19, 2003, by telephone, fax and letter. The recall involved 238/50 pound bags distributed in the state of Ohio.

 

Recalls are actions taken by a firm to remove a product from the market. Recalls may be conducted on a firm's own initiative, by FDA request, or by FDA order under statutory authority. A Class I recall is a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

 

The above quotes were taken directly from the FDA website.

Additionally, there is a warning letter on file to Robert DeGregorio, the then-President of Land O' Lakes Farmland Feed (who has since resigned), indicating a violation at another Ohio Land O' Lakes mill only two months prior to the mixing of the poisonous alpaca feed:

 

This response explains that there was a mistake in placing the order through your Minneapolis purchasing department and states that a restricted product list is maintained and plant personnel will be retrained in the procedures of verifying the type and drug potency. It is apparent from the circumstances which occurred under your operations that this response is not adequate. Your firm needs to establish effective distribution control procedures which will assure that such violations do not recur.

 

The warning letter quoted above is available in its entirety at:

http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/g4040d.htm

More information about the circumstances surrounding the warning letter are here:

http://www.fda.gov/ora/about/enf_story/ch5/cvm1.htm

There are other warnings on file to Mr. DeGregorio.  The following is regarding a Land O' Lakes plant in Dodge City, Kansas:

http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/g1232d.pdf

March 2006 - Land O' Lakes held its 85th Annual Meeting in late February where the Chairman of the Board Pete Kappelman describes the theme as "A Brand New Day" -- a clever double use of the word 'brand'.  All cleverness aside, though, it is interesting to note that three years after mixing the salinomycin tainted feed that killed and afflicted so many alpacas, they have discontinued their "Profile" brand (the name that was on the bags of poisoned feed), and launched a new brand called "Lake Country Animal Nutrition".

July 2006 - As noted above, the original trial date was set for January of 2006.  This date was granted a continuance to June of 2006.  In late May, on the eve of the June trial date, Land O' Lakes refused to allow us to depose their expert witnesses and, additionally, the Land O' Lakes hired expert Anthony Stachowski individually filed a protective order asking that he be excused from answering questions regarding his credibility, his biases, and his qualifications as a judge of alpacas - all of which go to the very heart of his role as an expert.

Due to all of this, the June trial has now again been postponed to an as-of-yet undetermined date and our expenses continue to pile ever higher.  All of this because over 3 years ago we fed a Land O' Lakes product to our alpacas that they had formulated, marketed, and sold specifically as alpaca feed.  A product that killed over 100 and affected over 250 additional alpacas on our farm.

August 2006 - On August 8th, 2006, our attorneys took the deposition of Stephen Buffo, one of the Land O' Lakes expert witnesses.  There are still no scheduled dates for the other depositions or a court date.

September 2006 - There is a settlement conference scheduled for late September at which point we will get a new trial date.  In LOL's SEC filings, their most recent 10-Q states:

In 2003, several lawsuits were filed against the Company by Ohio alpaca producers in which it was alleged that the Company manufactured and sold animal feed that caused the death of, or damage to, certain of the producers’ alpacas. The two remaining lawsuits are scheduled to go to trial in 2006.

September 27, 2006 - A new court date was set at today's conference... March 12, 2007.  This is over four years after Land O' Lakes mixed the poisonous feed.  Additionally, an animal that ate the feed in 2003 has recently died, and histopathology shows severe scarring of the heart muscle.  This brings our death loss well over 110 alpacas.

December, 2006 - The deposition of LOL's expert witness Anthony Stachowski has been ordered by the judge to go forward, and to be completed by mid-January, 2007.

January 16th and 17th, 2007 - Anthony Stachowski's videotaped deposition took place. 

Tuesday February 13, 2007 – A status/settlement meeting was set for today, but cancelled by Land O' Lakes attorneys.

Thursday February 15, 2007 – Land O’Lakes reports their Fourth-Quarter/year end results, with posted Feed sales of $2.7 billion for 2006 (posted on their corporate website). Unfortunately, to me, that sounds like a lot of feed buyers who don’t know how they handle their accountability to their customers.

Tuesday February 20, 2007 – Last Tuesday’s settlement conference took place today, with nothing productive coming of it.  These are the only two lawsuits regarding this poisoned feed that Land O' Lakes has not yet settled.

Wednesday February 21, 2007 – Land O' Lakes filed their 2006 Annual Report with the SEC, in which they touch on, interestingly, both the "health and well being" of the animals that eat their feed, as well as the lawsuit regarding the animals that their feed "caused the death of or damage to":

"FEED 
We will cultivate continued progress in Feed by delivering the best value in terms of product quality, brand reputation, price, animal health and well-being, and producer profitability. 

18. Commitments and Contingencies 
In 2003, several lawsuits were filed against the Company by Ohio alpaca producers in which it was alleged that the Company manufactured and sold animal feed that caused the death of, or damage to, certain of the producers’ alpacas. The one remaining lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in Spring of 2007."

Tuesday February 27, 2007 -- Today there was another attempt at settlement during a conference at the Federal Courthouse, and again nothing came of it so the trial will begin in less than two weeks.

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