Acorns

[Sunny Citizen]

My eleven month old Jersey heifer got into a lot of acorns this week. I let her out of the pasture, since I have seeded with Rye grass and wanted her off of it as much as possible. She headed straight for the oak tree and chomped away. I didn't know. After seeing her eat SO many, I thought I'd better research it. I found info on internet about acorn poisioning in cattle. I called my local mentor. She said to 1) get her back in the pasture and away from the acorns (for 2 - 3 weeks, until they age and she no longer wants them), 2) get her on roughage - a lot and asap 3) worm her now - with SafeGuard (alfalpha pellets) - and again in 10 days. My goal is to try to get the acorns out of her before toxicity occurs (the internet said symptoms in 8 - 14 days, my mentor said it wouldn't take that long). She gave me a gallon of mineral oil and a large syringe and said if she gets constipated to give the whole gallon to her orally. And to watch her closely. That is about all I can do.

Since she's my only cow, I know the stool is hers. I do see acorn pieces in it already. She is on some new, fresh hay and back in the pasture. (She has a protein tub available, as well.) She has been wormed. She acts fine.

Any advice, suggestions, comments. Should I prepare for the worst??? Thank you.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Mine get in the oak thickets and chomp away. Maybe I have just been lucky. Dad's and Grandad's ate acorns. I've read about it but never concerned myself.

They prefer mesquite beans over anything else when they move to new pasture.

 

[Bigfoot]

Odds are she's fine. I have lost them to acorns before. Mine are exposed to them all day every day. Nothing I can do about it.

 

[cow pollinater]

Acorns are GREAT protien. My cows go off the protien tubs when the acorns fall.
Give her some alfalfa and she'll be fine. Acorn toxicity comes when that's ALL they have to eat and that doesn't sound like the case here.

 

[Lucky_P]

Cattle can eat some acorns with little ill effect, but some eat too much - even when there's plenty of grass available. I've seen cattle down from acorn toxicity, and after pumping 'em full of fluids & laxatives, I've seen 'em get up and beeline right back to the oak trees to start tanking up on them again.
Some heavy mast years, we see numerous cases of acorn toxicosis, and it's always been my experience that it's usually acorns from oaks in the white oak group - bur oak, white oak, etc. that seem to be the worst offenders.

Deer and goats have proline-rich proteins in their saliva which binds and inactivates the toxic gallotannins in acorns, but cattle produce much lower levels of prps, and cannot handle them in the amounts that deer/goats seem to eat with impunity.

Deworming with fenbendazole (or any other anthelminthic, for that matter) will do nothing to counteract excessive acorn consumption.
You should give the mineral oil NOW to help speed gut transit and to (possibly) block some absorption of the tannins; the reason some cattle with acorn toxicosis become 'constipated' is because their kidneys are damaged, they're becoming systemically toxic, and stop eating/drinking, stools get firm and hard. If you wait until they're constipated, well, the cow is out of the barn...

 

[greybeard]

Mine eat White Oak acorns from Oct till the first hard freeze, then leave them alone. Never seen one sick from it, but they have plenty of hay and ryegrass most years to go along with the acorns. To get rid of them, I would have to shrink my place down 100' in every direction since the acorns come from Govt property trees.

Give her a whole gallon of mineral oil at one dose?? :!: :!: :!:

 

[Caustic Burno]

Mine eat White Oak acorns from Oct till the first hard freeze, then leave them alone. Never seen one sick from it, but they have plenty of hay and ryegrass most years to go along with the acorns. To get rid of them, I would have to shrink my place down 100' in every direction since the acorns come from Govt property trees.

Give her a whole gallon of mineral oil at one dose?? :!: :!: :!:

Mine are standin knee deep in them and do every year.
My pastures are full of white oaks,

 

[Bigfoot]

I can't see how you guys don't lose some every now and then. It must be some kind of regional difference.

 

[Lucky_P]

Bigfoot,
There's really no way to predict it. Some years are worse than others. Oaks tend to run in a 'boom-bust' mast cycle - and not all trees will be in an 'on' year at the same time. But some years, the 'perfect storm' seems to hit, and we see problems across a wide area. Back in Missouri, about '92 or '93, I saw acorn toxicosis cases out the wazoo, from all over the state.

That said, I've done some playing around with 'low-tannin' oak selections - and I'm not convinced that genetics is the whole story with them - I've eaten acorns from selected low-tannin trees some years that are totally non-bitter(not much flavor, either, though), and acorns from the same tree the next year are just like any other white oak - so... growing conditions such as rainfall, temperature, etc. may play a role.

 

[greybeard]

We get more and larger acorns in the fall after a severe drought. This year, not too bad. Last fall, ya had to wear a hardhat in Oct, Nov and Dec, and it was like walking on crunchy marbles. CB sez it's a tree's way of making one last stab at perpetuating the species. (He should know--he was around when most of these big oaks were acorns themselves) :lol2:

 

[Caustic Burno]

We get more and larger acorns in the fall after a severe drought. This year, not too bad. Last fall, ya had to wear a hardhat in Oct, Nov and Dec, and it was like walking on crunchy marbles. CB sez it's a tree's way of making one last stab at perpetuating the species. (He should know--he was around when most of these big oaks were acorns themselves) :lol2:

I will tell you another thing you see the trees with five to ten foot dead top limbs.
That is a dead tree and just doesn't know it yet, root system got damaged in the drought and can't support the whole tree. It will get a little worse each year until it die's.

 

[dun]

I will tell you another thing you see the trees with five to ten foot dead top limbs.
That is a dead tree and just doesn't know it yet, root system got damaged in the drought and can't support the whole tree. It will get a little worse each year until it die's.

A real early sign is when the leaf out in the spring then the very top loses it's leaves.

 

[Sunny Citizen]

Update: it's been over a week. She acts fine - other than being mifted at me for not letting her out of the pasture by snorting and kicking up her heels by the gate. I have been giving her a little corn (maybe a cup) and mineral oil (maybe 2 cups) for a couple of days. She has lots of fresh hay available and grass. I am checking her stool. It has been a bit drier than usual - but, lots of grass/hay and a few kernels of corn. No sign of acorns in her stool since about Monday. Her water trough is noticeably lower each morning. Still hoping that it'll all turn out fine...

 

[TexasBred]

You should give the mineral oil NOW to help speed gut transit and to (possibly) block some absorption of the tannins; the reason some cattle with acorn toxicosis become 'constipated' is because their kidneys are damaged, they're becoming systemically toxic, and stop eating/drinking, stools get firm and hard. If you wait until they're constipated, well, the cow is out of the barn...

My experience with cattle overconsuming acorns has been just the reverse. Extreme scours, little more than colored water and a few broken acorn hulls in it.

CP I've seen cattle with grass, good baled hay and they preferred the acorns. It's almost like an addiction. She'll stand under the tree all day waiting for the next one to fall. There is some thought that feeding a feed with a good content of cottonseed meal helps keep them away from the acorns. A range meal or cubes.

 

[Caustic Burno]

You should give the mineral oil NOW to help speed gut transit and to (possibly) block some absorption of the tannins; the reason some cattle with acorn toxicosis become 'constipated' is because their kidneys are damaged, they're becoming systemically toxic, and stop eating/drinking, stools get firm and hard. If you wait until they're constipated, well, the cow is out of the barn...

My experience with cattle overconsuming acorns has been just the reverse. Extreme scours, little more than colored water and a few broken acorn hulls in it.

CP I've seen cattle with grass, good baled hay and they preferred the acorns. It's almost like an addiction. She'll stand under the tree all day waiting for the next one to fall. There is some thought that feeding a feed with a good content of cottonseed meal helps keep them away from the acorns. A range meal or cubes.

Not mine TB as they have range meal, hay and cubes and all that is on there mind is acorns.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I can't see how you guys don't lose some every now and then. It must be some kind of regional difference.

How did the longhorns survive out in the wild all those years?

I've got live oak thick. Black jack oak too. It's never been an issue.

 

[Bigfoot]

I'm sure some died. It's kinda like when people say I run my horse without shoes because wild mustangs run without shoes.

 

[TexasBred]

I can't see how you guys don't lose some every now and then. It must be some kind of regional difference.

How did the longhorns survive out in the wild all those years?

I've got live oak thick. Black jack oak too. It's never been an issue.

You may never diagnose it but you'll lose one eventually. Just the nature of the beast. But then they may never eat them....that's the first requirement. Let one get "hooked" on them and you'll be dragging her to the bone pile.

 

[TANK30705]

I think I lost one to the acorns this year, Ive noticed my calves and yearlings really chomping down on the acorns!

Here in Ga we've got one of the biggest acorn crops people can ever remember!!!

 

[Lucky_P]

TB - they kinda run the gamut - and there may be some issues with regard to 'chronicity', as well. I either see profuse watery diarrhea or constipation; seems like, early on, they scour, but often, in the terminal stages, they get contipated - probably 'cause they're not going to water and become progressively more dehydrated - and their kidneys are shutting down.

Had a calf through the lab last week that was a classical case of acorn toxicosis; no discernible acorns/shells left in the rumen, but the 'porridge' in there still had some small chunks of acorn meat in it. BUN(blood urea nitrogen) level was 306 mg/dl(normal is 4-17). Kidneys were shot; lots of edema surrounding the kidneys, the whole carcass smelled of urine; ulcers in the GI tract due to bacteria breaking the urea down to ammonia, which is damaging to gut epithelium, blood vessels, and nerve tissues. This calf had been scouring, but at the point I got it, feces were firm, hard, and mucus-coated.