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Livestock producers urged to watch for toxic plants

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By: Blair Fannin

Photo caption: Coffee senna is a plant with 6-8 inch beans that can become toxic to livestock due to extreme heat and dry conditions. (Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory photo)

Extreme heat, dry conditions can lead to possible losses

Writer: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, [email protected]

Contact: Dr. Tam Garland, 979-845-3414, [email protected]

COLLEGE STATION – Extreme heat and dry conditions can lead to a shortage of grass, and an opportunity to consume toxic plants and forages found in Texas rangelands. Livestock producers should be aware of potential pitfalls, according to a Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory expert.

Dr. Tam Garland, head of the lab’s toxicology section in College Station, advises cattle producers to scout pastures and be on the lookout for four types of senna plants that can be toxic during different seasons and weather patterns: coffee senna, twinleaf senna, sicklepod senna and Lindheimer senna.

Of late, extremely high temperatures without rain have stressed grasses. Livestock try other plants that remain green, Garland said. Coffee senna is maturing and is still green, and Garland said cattle will find these more palatable as the fall season approaches.

“Just like humans, cattle will want variety in their diet and they find the coffee senna beans quite tasty as forages become less available,” she said.

The plant will have 6to 8-inch-long beans that grow upward rather than downward, forming a type of parenthesis around the center stalk of the plant.

Twinleaf senna will become more prevalent with frequent showers. Garland said this perennial plant will grow beside other weeds in the pasture.

“People think when they get rain they’ve got a lot grass in the pasture, but there are other weeds that can pop up,” Garland said. “This is typical of twinleaf senna
that is found growing in Central and West Texas regions where there’s limestone soils.”

Though herbicides applied to pastures earlier this year can control the threat of toxic forages and weeds, there’s still the potential for high winds to blow seeds into these areas.

“It’s still important for ranchers to scout pastures and be on the lookout,” Garland said. “The biggest problem is we don’t notice subtle clinical signs in our livestock, nor do we scout our pastures and look for these potentially toxic plants.”

Ranchers should observe their cattle. Those excreting dark urine and having  consumed coffee senna, and also twinleaf senna if there has been rain, will have clinical signs such as diarrhea and weakness before they get down.

“And when they get down, they do not get up,” Garland said. “That’s why it’s so important for daily observation of cattle and to scout pastures. These are what we call alert downers. They will eat and drink if food and water is taken to them, but they cannot get up.”

For more information about these and other toxic plants, Garland has co-authored Toxic Plants of Texas, available at the AgriLife Bookstore: http://www.agrilifebookstore.org/Toxic-Plants-of-Texas-p/b-6105.htm .

Additionally, the lab can determine if livestock have ingested one of these potentially deadly plants. For more information on testing, visit http://tvmdl.tamu.edu/tests/microscopic-analysis .

 

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Farm & Ranch

Ag Elsewhere: Wyoming

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By Tressa Lawrence

Despite some blue skies, March can still bring sub-zero temperatures to Wyoming as calves hit the ground.

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Ag Elsewhere: Montana

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By Lindsey Monk

Welding on some corrals before dark. It’s been a mild winter in Montana so far, knock on wood.

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Land Market Report: January Land Sales

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By Jared Groce

The rural land market in North Texas has had a fairly stale start to the year, with the number of transactions closed being minimal so far. There has been an increase in call volume from buyers, and some are turning into contracts, but I feel like we are still a little slower than we usually are at this time of the year. The “experts” are expecting fewer transactions in 2024 as compared to 2023, and they may be correct, because election years always seem to be slower. Once the election is over, and regardless of who wins, things seem to pick up once again. It is a strange phenomena that just seems to happen every four years.

With the amount of growth that we are currently experiencing here, I do not expect things to get any cheaper. More people means more houses, and they have to have land to build those houses on.

To read more, pick up a copy of the March issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.

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