Johnsongrass/Prussic acid

[greybeard]

I sure ain't an expert but it's said new growth from frost, drought, hayed or grazed
I'd suspect there has to be enough new growth and a cow would have to consume enough new growth to be toxic
Being its new growth it's in the lower part of the plant
Most cattle walk and graze along so they may not be eating enough to be toxic
A couple years ago they said some cattle were poisoned on tifton 85 but they had been hungry when turned in on it
I'd guess that'd have to be several factors to make it work or fail

I remember that--it was the one that caused such a ruckus when erroneously reported by the press to be GMO grass.
That was near Bastrop Texas--roping calves if I remember correctly, that had been used heavily earlier that day and day before somewhere else, were brought back home and turned out on new pasture and were hungry.
One of the big questions was whether the Tifton had been recently fertilized before the rain--it had not been.

 

[cross_7]

Ive had cattle on pasture before spring green up that grew JG and never had a problem in spring/summer and even grazed it out but I had it stocked heavy enough JG never hrs a chance to grow up
Banjo said he rotates pasture and never had problems
Someone maybe Isom said they had never had a problem before but was having trouble and was using the test strips
Whoever it was had some pretty good info based on testing the JG at different stages

 

[greybeard]

When I was a kid, a neighbor turned his cows in a bean field after a frost. A little Johnson grass around one light pole killed 16 head. It made a big impression on me. I'm probably too cautious, UK gave me some of those strips that detects it. I'm out, and need some more. Anybody know where to order them?

It ain't cheap, but just a fraction of what any animal is worth nowadays:
http://www.amazon.com/SEOH-Cyantesmo-An ... B008AZC8GQ
1 roll 16.4 ft long==$53+shipping ($4.30)

 

[cross_7]

Here is the topic I was thinking of
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=85335&hilit=prussic&start=45

 

[Dawgfarmer]

I too have never heard of it. We only have jgrass in high rain excess grazing situations. I have done all the no nos listed, grazed early, fertilized, grazed after rain and grazed on the comeback after bushogging. To my knowledge never lost a cow to it. Am I lucky or doing something right I don't know? Did lose a cow this year for no apparent reason, which is why I read this thread. But as I thought about it, she was never in a field where it was. Thanks, now I have to make sure I don't stop doing something that I didn't know was helpful.

 

[ValleyView]

I guess this topic gets addressed every year, but frost is just a few weeks away. It is a concern of mine.....I have lots of it. What are everyones thoughts and experience with Jgrass. Does it take a killing frost or is light frost enough to make it deadly? If the Jgrass is headed out and matured is it still toxic at that point or not, or does it need to be green and growing?

Banjo,
what did you end up doing and how did it go? I have recently rotated into a pasture that has a few bale sized areas of mature Johnsongrass as well with a chance of frost on Friday morning.

I posted a thread earlier today but I guess it was removed.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I turned mine out on a patch Sunday. About 10 acres. They've about made all the johnsongrass gone already. Some of it was quite overdue as u can see. Idk what the frost will do tho. I know drought stressed and lots of moisture cause problems.

 

[ValleyView]

I turned mine out on a patch Sunday. About 10 acres. They've about made all the johnsongrass gone already. Some of it was quite overdue as u can see. Idk what the frost will do tho. I know drought stressed and lots of moisture cause problems.

Murray, thanks for the info! Not sure where our thread went earlier... You planning to pull them or let them cruise for the potential frost this Friday? I moved mine out of a pasture with similar amounts and stage of JG where I had them trampling in Rye seed to my fescue and crabgrass paddock but thought I'd have more time for them to graze out the JG.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Murray, thanks for the info! Not sure where our thread went earlier... You planning to pull them or let them cruise for the potential frost this Friday? I moved mine out of a pasture with similar amounts and stage of JG where I had them trampling in Rye seed to my fescue and crabgrass paddock but thought I'd have more time for them to graze out the JG.

Well, Thursday night we have a low of 42 here in north central Oklahoma. I think we will be ok here. Just gonna have to see how it goes. They ain't left that 10 acres since I out em out there! Grass was getting pretty thin elsewhere. Think theres 21 of em on it. May not be much left to worry about. That was the first thing they started gobbling up. I plan to check it out tmrw pretty good tho.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Cows have gobbled it all up. Still fat and happy!