Dallis grass hay ergot Poisoning

[JRM]

Got some yearling calves that have been acting strange. They stagger and have shakes and some times fall down then get up. Talked to a few people and they said it could be ergot poisoning as they been eating hay with dallis grass in it. I have replaced hay with dallis grass free hay. I did this yesterday afternoon, and checked them this morning and they still showing signs. I been feeding dallis grass hay off and on for the past 26 years, never had a problem before this. I know cows grazing can get ergot poisoning, but never heard of cows getting it when they ate it as hay.
My questions are:
1: If it is ergot poisoning, how long will it take to get over once they are on dallis free hay.
2: Do you think it could be anything else beside ergot poisoning
3: I got allot of hay left over that has dallis grass in it, anyway I can feed this hay with out causing them to get ergot poisoning.
4: I got alot of dallis grass in my hay meadows so what should I do to prevent this happening again beside killing the dallis grass
Thanks

 

[alacattleman]

gonna be hard too kill dallis without killing every thing else, personally i love it, but you have too manage it by clipping the tops before the develope the fungus, or harvest it before ,,,,if thats what it is, they will be fine in a couple days after pulled off

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

If their necks and face are puffy and they seem lethargic it's most probably ergot. I never saw any of our ergotty cattle with shakes though... But if it is ergot isolation and a shot of antibiotics worked for us and I just used to make sure the bad ones walked to the trough and hay bale to eat and drink 3 times a day.

Call the vet though. It really doesnt sound like ergot