JLScattle said:
Nolan,
Very sorry to hear about your loss, but I would like to know more of the circumstances. You are one of the few first hand accounts I have had of people losing animals to JG. I think it might help a lot of others on this board.
In the pasture that the deaths occurred, was the grass drought stressed (except that in the draw)? Had it recently rained? Had this grass been fertilized in any way? How mature/tall was the grass and was there a mix of other feed, or was it a solid stand of JG?
Sorry for all of the questions, but as stated, I think some of us could learn from your situation.
Thanks
Everything out here has been drought stressed since June. No fertilizer or rain. I was actually just waiting to pull them if we were to get a rain. Grass was mature, mixed in with klein grass. The draw had about a 30ft strip that was green and growing. That is where they were piled up at. Moved them in on a Saturday, caked them Sunday(all alive), Monday morning there were buzzards. I've always heard of the risks but never known anyone to have this happen around here. I graze these fields every summer, just haven't had it be so wet fall through spring and then drastic change to hot and dry
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Nolan - that is an awful tough pill to swallow but thanks for sharing on this post. That kind of loss is what scares me to death with having a pasture full of JG. I probably play it way too safe, but that amount of loss would be devastating for my operation. I am sorry you had to go through that.
Our fall and spring in OK sounds similar to yours wet wet wet through end of June and then no measurable rain for 45 days, things got hot and dry really fast and there were cracks everywhere. Stories like yours make it a lot easier to take samples down to the extension office for testing just for a little reassurance...