Cherry tree leaves?

[Springfieldsimm]

I have always been told never to let cows eat wilted cherry tree leaves as they are poisonous.
My question is we cut down a cherry tree last week and threw the branches across the fence and I didn't think about it that the cows can get to them if they go through the woods a ways. This morning there was about 5 cows and 2 calves eating them. Should I be worried and if so is there something to do or watch for?

 

[cowman82]

yes you should be worried. those leaves will stayed wilted for weeks and can kill them easily. I've lost about 30 cows to them.

They will be down, can't get up. call the vet right away if you see this. They will be down within a few hours or today sometime if they ate too much.

spray the leaves with diesel if you cut one down.

 

[M.Magis]

yes you should be worried. those leaves will stayed wilted for weeks and can kill them easily. I've lost about 30 cows to them.

They will be down, can't get up. call the vet right away if you see this. They will be down within a few hours or today sometime if they ate too much.

spray the leaves with diesel if you cut one down.

30?

 

[Warren Allison]

I didn't know about cows, but this is definitely true with horses. Learned this the hard way when I was a 6 yr old boy with a pony. There was a wild cherry tree in our pasture, and it got split in a storm, and the pony ate the leaves off the limb on the ground. They got me another to replace it, and that year I learned about possums and EPM. I destroy every cherry tree in every pasture I have had, and kill every possum I see.

 

[cowman82]

30?

yea.. this place has a lot of them. trying to get them all cleared out but its a large job. first year came out one day and had 10 of my 30 kept heifers laying dead all bloated up. few months later 5 cows laying dead bloated up. next year 8 cows laying dead bloated. etc.

they'll find a branch down and they'll fight over eating the leaves. i've got the fencing and water done so now i can daily rotate // keep an eye on each pen..

 

[Warren Allison]

Best thing to do is cut them down fall and winter, when the leaves are gone...before they put out new leaves in the spring.

 

[Logan52]

The first cow I ever lost was a victim of cherry leaves, eaten after they had wilted when a limb was knocked down by an early summer thunderstorm. This is the dangerous time of the year for this.
18 cows gathered around the fallen limb but only one died, or even got sick that I could tell.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Do cherry leaves have to be wilted? When we moved here there was a domestic Rainer yellow cherry tree where my horse corral was going to be.. Cut it off at the ground because horses will chew the bark. There are 2 other cherry trees in the yard. If a cow ate several fresh leaves would she get sick?

 

[M.Magis]

My understanding is they pull cyanide out of the tree/wood once the branch or tree is dead. That's why it becomes so concentrated. I'm sure someone could offer a better explanation though, that's just the way I understood why wilted leaves are emphasized as the most dangerous. I have cherry trees in/lining every pasture and never had an issue.

 

[cowman82]

My understanding is they pull cyanide out of the tree/wood once the branch or tree is dead. That's why it becomes so concentrated. I'm sure someone could offer a better explanation though, that's just the way I understood why wilted leaves are emphasized as the most dangerous. I have cherry trees in/lining every pasture and never had an issue.

you've been lucky. i'd get rid of them if I were you.

 

[farmerjan]

The vet told us about the concentration of the prussic acid in the leaves and it is something that is more concentrated when the leaves are "damaged"... Cows can and will eat them direct off a branch and have little affect from them if they have had plenty of grass and are not starving... but once the branch is damaged, tree is down, etc... the leaves are very poisonous...
Cutting down as many of them as possible during the "dormant" time should be a priority... we constantly are cutting down or cutting them way back during the winter....
If the animals have plenty to eat, they usually will not bother them growing... but it seems once a tree comes down, they just "HAVE TO GO EAT THEM" ... go figure....

 

[M.Magis]

Here's an article from Penn State I found.
Article

 

[chaded]

How are they doing?

 

[Springfieldsimm]

How are they doing?

I checked on them a few times today and they all seem normal and fine.
I took a poly wire and fenced off the branches so hopefully that will keep them away from them.

 

[chaded]

I checked on them a few times today and they all seem normal and fine.
I took a poly wire and fenced off the branches so hopefully that will keep them away from them.

I suspected they would be. I'm not saying to not worry but I think we worry too much. Lol.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

@chaded, worry doesn't accomplish anything except stress you out. So yes, any worry is too much. Refocus worry into concern, and then act on concern. Much more productive and beneficial.

Animals have varying tolerance levels to the cyanide that is present in cherry trees/parts of. Several years ago there were a lot of unexplained horse deaths and abortions occurring in pastures occurring in Kentucky. That same year, there was a proliferation of tent caterpillars. The connection? The tent caterpillars were feeding on cherry trees in horse pastures and the horses were consuming grasses under the cherry trees where the caterpillars were and in the process were consuming caterpillars, caterpillar poop, shed caterpillar skins....all of which were products from the cherry trees. The problem was so bad until the cause was identified that horse owners were actually moving their horses out of state to save the lives of the horses as the cause was unknown.

The wilted leaves are much more palatable than fully intact leaves. The level of cyanide in either is about equal. Palatability increases leads to higher intake levels, thus more cyanide intake because of more volume intake, which translates into higher sickness/death rates.

It takes a quantity of cyanide to have an effect on an animal. The more cyanide, the bigger the effect. I suppose once a lethal amount is reached, the effect no longer increases (Sorry for those that don't like dark humor). A certain number of leaves can usually be, and typically are, ingested before any effects will occur or be noticed. Basically, a harmless level. That number is quite variable based on the animal and concentration of cyanide in the leaf.

I know I said levels of cyanide are about equal in wilted vs live leaves. They are. But, what IS variable is the amount of cyanide per leaf between trees and/or between time of year and growth stage of the tree. So, a set quantity of cherry tree leaves may be harmless in one instance, but deadly in another instance, and it has little/nothing to do if the leaves are wilted or not.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

I checked on them a few times today and they all seem normal and fine.
I took a poly wire and fenced off the branches so hopefully that will keep them away from them.

I'm glad, but don't get confident and think that the same exposure next time will be harmless, as it might not be. Check my other posts here.

 

[kenny thomas]

@chaded, worry doesn't accomplish anything except stress you out. So yes, any worry is too much. Refocus worry into concern, and then act on concern. Much more productive and beneficial.

Animals have varying tolerance levels to the cyanide that is present in cherry trees/parts of. Several years ago there were a lot of unexplained horse deaths and abortions occurring in pastures occurring in Kentucky. That same year, there was a proliferation of tent caterpillars. The connection? The tent caterpillars were feeding on cherry trees in horse pastures and the horses were consuming grasses under the cherry trees where the caterpillars were and in the process were consuming caterpillars, caterpillar poop, shed caterpillar skins....all of which were products from the cherry trees. The problem was so bad until the cause was identified that horse owners were actually moving their horses out of state to save the lives of the horses as the cause was unknown.

The wilted leaves are much more palatable than fully intact leaves. The level of cyanide in either is about equal. Palatability increases leads to higher intake levels, thus more cyanide intake because of more volume intake, which translates into higher sickness/death rates.

It takes a quantity of cyanide to have an effect on an animal. The more cyanide, the bigger the effect. I suppose once a lethal amount is reached, the effect no longer increases (Sorry for those that don't like dark humor). A certain number of leaves can usually be, and typically are, ingested before any effects will occur or be noticed. Basically, a harmless level. That number is quite variable based on the animal and concentration of cyanide in the leaf.

I know I said levels of cyanide are about equal in wilted vs live leaves. They are. But, what IS variable is the amount of cyanide per leaf between trees and/or between time of year and growth stage of the tree. So, a set quantity of cherry tree leaves may be harmless in one instance, but deadly in another instance, and it has little/nothing to do if the leaves are wilted or not.

Well i totally disagree with the amount being the same. Cows can and will eat leaves from a broken limb shortly afterwards without any advesrse effect. A few hours or the next day according to the weather the leaves will wilt and an even less amount will kill them.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Well i totally disagree with the amount being the same. Cows can and will eat leaves from a broken limb shortly afterwards without any advesrse effect. A few hours or the next day according to the weather the leaves will wilt and an even less amount will kill them.

I goofed. Sorry. The amount of cyanide does increase. Significantly in fact. It is present in healthy leaves to an extent though. However, the animals leave the healthy leaves alone in addition to levels being quite low. My bad.