UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Pasturing horses and other livestock is the most economical and easiest way to feed. The most difficult thing about pasture feeding forages is the inconsistency of both feed quantity and quality. Poisonous plants and weed can cause metabolic distur bances or death of the animal. The following are some common disorders cre ated by grazing certain pas ture plants. Ryegrass staggers usually occur in grazing animals in late summer when predomi nantly ryegrass pastures are dry and growing slowly. The condition occurs most com monly in sheep with occa sional cases in cattle and horses. Most affected animals show no signs unless dis turbed or excited. Symptoms vary from mild tremors when animals are at rest, to severe in coordination and falling when they move or are excited. Death from this condition is rare. How ever, affected animals that are unable to stand may starve if left unattended. Removing animals from the pasture and changing the teed will allow recovery. The danger of ryegrass staggers in pastures in greatly dimin ished with rain and increased Goose Hill Farm of Hamilton, NY, the home of the largest purebred herd of Normande dairy cattle in the U.S., and the only purebred Dairy herd of Normandes in the U.S., will be hosting our Ist Annual Normande sale on: Saturday, September 14,2002 -12 Noon Goose Hill Farm 1079 Preston Hill Road, Earlville, NY 13332 • (315) 691-9830 We will be selling For more information on the Normande breed and the sale, visit our website: www.normandecattle.com Catalogs will be available in the coming months. Mark your calendars now for this first ever event. We will be having a tour of our new milking facility the morning of the sale from 8:30 am to 10:00 am. Come visit the first and only milking nerd of Normandes on the North American continent. Contact: ZANE SMITH (315) 691-9830 or DAVID HUGHES, Farm Manager Plant And Animal Considerations For Graziers plant growth. Ergotism is a condition caused by the growth of a mold that produces a poison. The ergot mold primarily in fects rye and some other small grains. Some forage grasses including prome grass, bluegrass and ryegrass are also occasionally affected by the same mold. Seeds form a distinct dark purple to blackish mass when infected with this mold. If ergot is sus pected the feed should be evaluated to determine if the mold is present. Signs of ergotism can be similar to those of fescue tox icity. Two separate syn dromes have been identified. Gangrenous ergotism, the most common form, is a chronic condition affecting cattle and occasionally swine. It is characterized by lame ness, swelling around the fet locks, pan and eventual loss of hooves due to a dry gan grene. If severe, ears and tails can also be lost to dry gangrene. The nervous form of ergo tism, although relatively rare, usually begins with diarrhea followed by convulsions, ag gressiveness and eventual pa ralysis of the respiratory center. There is no effective treatment except animal re moval from the oFending feed source. Preven ion is best accomplished bv clip The first 40 Registered Normande Bull Calves ail born in 2002 with outstanding Normande genetics. * We will also have some selected Registered Normande heifers and cows for ping potential problem pas tures to prevent development of seed heads. Sweet clover poisoning occurs as a result of molds that grow in poorly managed sweet clover silage or in sweet clover hay put up too wet. These molds cause the chemi cal dicoumarol to be formed which blocks normal blood clotting in animals that con sume large quantities. (Di coumarol is commonly used in several commercial rodent poisons). If formed, the poison per sists in hay or moldy silage and is readily eaten by ani mals. The signs of sweet clover poisoning include those of ab normal bleeding. The first signs are bloody nose and black, tarry manure. Swelling of joints, lameness and diffi cult breathing can occur later if heavy doses are consumed. Treatment consists of re moval of the feed source and administration of vitamin K to restore normal blood clot ting. Prevention includes avoid ing moldy sweet clover si lages and moldy hay that consists primarily of sweet clover. Nitrate poisoning can occur in cattle and horses grazing pastures or eating hays that have accumulated high levels of nitrates during The Ultimate Grazing Breed Ist Annual NORMANDE Dairy bull calf sale ir Normande Cattle Sale ever held in Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 13,2002, Foraging Around- growth. Nitrates accumulate in plants when excessive rates of fertilizer have been applied or when plants have been drought stressed. Nitrate levels tend to be higher in the lower one-third of the plant and accumulate more at night and on cloudy days. Some species of plants that are known to accumulate ni trates include Johnsongrass, sorghum, sweetclover, bro megrass, orchardgrass, lambsquarter, oat hay, rape, barley, wheat and corn. En siling forages suspected of having high nitrate levels usually reduces the chances for problems. However, hay continues to be dangerous as the accumu lated nitrates do not decrease over time. Low levels of nitrates can cause abortion without any other symptoms. Severely af fected animals develop muscle tremors, lose coordi nation and become weak. Moving these animals will in itiate difficult breathing com monly followed by collapse and death. Nitrate poisoning is often confused with prussic acid poisoning but is distin guished by a marked differ ence in blood color of affected animals. Animals poisoned by nitrates will have choco late brown blood while those poisoned by prussic acid will >rth Ami have bright red blood. Treat ment by a veterinarian can be effective if initiated early. Prevention includes mixing affected forages with normal forages to dilute the nitrate levels. Raising the cutter bar 10-12 inches to avoid cutting the lower one third of the plant and not cut ting drought-stressed forages for several days after a rain also helps avoid problems. If high nitrate levels are suspected, samples of the forage should be submitted to a competent laboratory for analysis before the forage is fed. Horses can tolerate a higher amount of nitrate levels in feed than cattle. Prussic acid poisoning is caused by a poison called cy anide that can be produced in several types of plants under certain growing conditions. All species of farm animals may be affected with this acute poisoning. The plants most commonly involved in prussic acid poi soning are Johnsongrass, sundangrass, common sor ghum, arrowgrass, black cherry, choke cherry, pin cherry and flax. Johnson grass is the most toxic of the sorghums and commonly causes poisoning when sub jected to frost or drought con ditions. Very young, rapidly grow (Turn to Page 20) as 195
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers