Dead Bulls/cows

[Central Fl Cracker]

We had 2ea 3 year old bulls and 2 cows suddendly die last week and 3 more real sick cows. The vet came out and gave them some kind of shot and the three cows survived. He claims they ate some coffee bean plant and that is what killed them. According to the vet the plants are not toxic until a frost hits them and causes the leaves to die. This makes no sense since there is coffee beans on the 4 pastures we own. Any thoughts on this.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We had 2ea 3 year old bulls and 2 cows suddendly die last week and 3 more real sick cows. The vet came out and gave them some kind of shot and the three cows survived. He claims they ate some coffee bean plant and that is what killed them. According to the vet the plants are not toxic until a frost hits them and causes the leaves to die. This makes no sense since there is coffee beans on the 4 pastures we own. Any thoughts on this.

Sounds like pruassic acid what is the plant ?

 

[grannysoo]

We have coffee beans too and my cows won't touch them. However... if a cow is hungry enough, it will eat anything.

 

[alabama]

Do you have Johnson grass on your place?

 

[ALACOWMAN]

We had 2ea 3 year old bulls and 2 cows suddendly die last week and 3 more real sick cows. The vet came out and gave them some kind of shot and the three cows survived. He claims they ate some coffee bean plant and that is what killed them. According to the vet the plants are not toxic until a frost hits them and causes the leaves to die. This makes no sense since there is coffee beans on the 4 pastures we own. Any thoughts on this.

• Sounds like pruassic acid

what is the plant ?

yep.hydrogen cyanide. can kill em quick

 

[birdog]

Lost a six week old calf earlier this summer for no apparent reason, wrote it off as bad luck. My son lost a baby goat after grazing in the flower garden on Lantana a few months later. Did a google and found that Lantana is toxic to animals. Got to thinking about the dead calf and found my neighbor had planted Lantana along the fence that runs up the easement to his house. I don't know if this is what killed the calf but I pissed off the neighbor when I dug it up on my side of the easement. I explained about the calf and offered to plant something else but he was a real prick. Maybe I should have explained before I dug it up but the end result is still the same. It's gone.

 

[Avalon]

I agree sounds like Prussic Acid. Here is a link that explains it and which plants to look for.
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/livestoc/v1150w.htm

 

[backhoeboogie]

Do you have Johnson grass on your place?

My thoughts too. I also heard of cows dying from eating acorns back in the '05 drought. That seemed strange since deer thrive on them. I looked it up and found it happens. Wierd. I have live oaks everywhere and have never lost a cow to acorns.

 

[Angus In Texas]

The acorns will plug them up if the conditions are right.

 

[Florida cattle]

Cracker

It's called Coffee Senna, and it is some nasty stuff if the cows ever eat the dried seed pods, we lost some to it when we first had it show up on our place in the early 80's. Cows will normally not eat it unless grass get's short and no good hay available, but if they do it's usually over for them.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FW008

check out the U of FL link above, anyone raising cows in the south needs to know about this nasty plant.

 

[flaboy]

So Cracker, how much Coffee Senna do you have? I suspect it is not Lantana. Lantana will burn their noses and tongues and the vet would have seen that for sure.

How long were they dead before you noticed? By this I mean were they fine one day and dead the next.

 

[LaneFarms]

cows dying form coffee weeds has been bad aroung here. I have a friend who lost 10 head and several others have lost 2-3 head.

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

I pulled up Coffee senna and that is not the plant that killed them. It has a pod that looks like a pea pod.
Flaboy
My cattle buyer was delivering some thin cows we bought at the auction Tuesday and he noticed one dead cow and 4 to 5 sick cows and 2 bulls. he called the Vet and he was out there in 1 hour and gave them some kind of antibiotic and said this was his second case this week of cows dieing of Coffee Bean poisoning. I will try to get a picture of the plant I think is the coffee bean.

 

[Florida cattle]

Cracker do a google search for the coffee sena, it does have a seed pod like peas.

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

You were right Florida cattle

Toxic agent
Cattle, horses, goats and sheep have been poisoned by coffee senna. The specific chemical responsible for the toxicity is unknown, but it appears to be present throughout the plant. Generally, the unpalatable green plants are not consumed; the dried, mature seedpods are responsible for most poisonings, which usually occur after frost. Plants that have dried after being cut or pulled up have also poisoned cattle, and they are the species most often poisoned in Texas.
You were right I had a frost so that was what caused the coffee senna to be toxic. What an expensive lesson. 2 Bulls at $ 1700 a piece and 2 cows at $ 600 a piece.

 

[Jogeephus]

I pulled up Coffee senna and that is not the plant that killed them. It has a pod that looks like a pea pod.
Flaboy
My cattle buyer was delivering some thin cows we bought at the auction Tuesday and he noticed one dead cow and 4 to 5 sick cows and 2 bulls. he called the Vet and he was out there in 1 hour and gave them some kind of antibiotic and said this was his second case this week of cows dieing of Coffee Bean poisoning. I will try to get a picture of the plant I think is the coffee bean.

Look up Crotalaria. It has a large full pea like fruit on it and its is also very poisonous. Its fruit is about 2.5 inches long and is about 1/2 inch in diameter. If its is longer and more narrow than this, it could be just plain coffee bean.

Cows normally will not eat either of these plants if they have a choice. I got the stuff all over my place but have never had a problem. knock on wood.

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

Cassia Occidentalis
Cassia occidentalis ( Figure 5 ), also known as coffee senna, resembles in many details the C. obtusifolia plant ( Figure 3 ) with the exception of having more numerous, pointed leaflets and flattened seed pods and seeds ( Figure 6 ). Several toxic compounds (toxic albumin, chrysarobin, and toxalbumin) have been isolated from the seeds. Several anthraquinone derivatives have also been recovered.

 

[Florida cattle]

Cracker if it wasn't for the hard lessons learned what fun would farming and ranching be

 

[Medic24]

Sorry to hear of your loss, it's never a good thing to see that in one's herd........
We have the dreaded Buckeye trees here.............seems squirels and the like can eat the nuts without problems.........but livestock die in a short period of time.......
we also battle what folks locally call milk fever from a weed that goes toxic in fall or dry conditions. This not to mention stagger weed that comes up first thing in spring.........oh, and mountain laurel, and well, a few more to mention.............. :cboy: