> I got a call from a Goat dairy who applies their effluent to
> their farm ground...

The discussion of lactose, while interesting, seems to me to
be a side-issue.

I dunno much at all about whey (or curds, either for that matter),
but when I hear the phrase "effluent", I presume it would refer to
a mixture that is mostly made up of the liquid and solid wastes
produced by the goats themselves.

Anyone who has smelled a herd of goats can testify to the
surprising quantity of powerful volatile compounds produced
by the typical goat.  (In general, strong odors are the result of
highly volatile compounds "being volatile".)

I'd focus on the analysis of the "effluent" itself.  I'd send a grad
student too much get some "pure" samples of goat urine, goat
feces, and whatever other components make up the mix of "effluent",
and a sample of the final mix as applied to the fields.  (One can
re-assure the grad student that shoveling such things will be good
practice for writing grant applications in the future...)

This can't be the first beekeeper to have hives near a diary or a
large herd of goats.  If such operations caused bee kills as a side
effect of "normal operations", one would expect that this would
have become common knowledge among beekeepers long ago.

Does anyone else have a nearby goat herd?  My farm borders
a fairly significant cattle dairy, and we have not noticed any
problems, including a lack of problems after the annual odiferous
machinations of the dairy's manure spreader.  (The dairy owner
did not consider beekeeping to be "real farming" until I asked him
if he'd like to assist with spring ear-tagging at the apiary.  I even
offered him appropriate props for my prank - a headband magnifier,
and a pair of tweezers, and mentioned that each hive had, at most,
60,000 bees...)

Therefore, one is forced to conclude that there is something very
obvious and nasty to be found here that should stick out in an
analysis of the effluent, the land, or the soil.

> ...they are dying rather quickly and those that make it back to
> the hive cause some mortality there also.

To have both bees dying "in the field" and "upon return" from a single
source or single toxic item is the most interesting part of the question.

Has anyone ever heard of ANY single item that kills bees in the manner
described?  Sounds to me like we have multiple nasty things here.

        jim