Oak Toxicity

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3MR

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Question - I have a couple of cows, 2-3 years old, 1000+ lbs that have developed a taste for the Oak buds. One cow eats them over everything else, the other just takes a bite in between bites of grass. They both have plenty of lush green grass. All the other cows appear to prefer the grass.

Any ideas? I have so much oak in every pasture, fencing it out inst an option.

How much do they have to eat before I should be really worried?
 
What do the affected cattle look like? Symptoms usually appear shortly after cattle eat 50% or more of their diet as oak (leaves, buds, acorns). Some animals may simply be found dead. Others may appear weak and listless, without an appetite. A day or two after eating the oak leaves or buds, bloody or dark diarrhea may be noticed. As kidney failure progresses, fluid may accumulate around the anus or vulva. Throughout, the cattle appear weak, listless, and have no appetite.
Source: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/IN ... a0101.html
 
3MR":2zny6qvh said:
Question - I have a couple of cows, 2-3 years old, 1000+ lbs that have developed a taste for the Oak buds. One cow eats them over everything else, the other just takes a bite in between bites of grass. They both have plenty of lush green grass. All the other cows appear to prefer the grass.

Any ideas? I have so much oak in every pasture, fencing it out inst an option.

How much do they have to eat before I should be really worried?

Never been a problem here and my pastures are full of oak trees, the only one that causes problems here is live oaks.
 
Caustic Burno":rfa27ul0 said:
Never been a problem here and my pastures are full of oak trees, the only one that causes problems here is live oaks.

Same here. We don;t have liveoaks and the cows eat the leaves all the time. By the time the acorns fall they're pretty much in [astures with mostly cedars or they're on hay and don;t go looking for anything.

dun
 
They dont have any symptoms. From what I understand once symptoms develop its to late.

The trees are Post Oak. I am in the Cross Timbers so they are all over.

I dont know what the actual Tannin level in them is. I dont think any of them are the majority of their diet from them. After I orriginally posted I moved them into an area with fewer of them and gave them free choice cubes. I figured the feed bill would still be less than a dead cow.

Yesterday I put them in a bigger pasture and watched them. They both still grab bites of the trees, but neither seems to be eating it like previously and are back to eating grass. Most of the little curlycue buds have fallen off in that particular area.
 

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