Plants Poisonous to Cattle?

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mudfork

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SW Virginia
What plants do I need to be watching out for as far as keeping cattle healthy? We will get our first cattle in a week or two, and I've been busting my tail trying to cut down all the buckeyes I can find. Is this overkill? We have lots of black cherry also. Am I better off leaving them standing now and work on cutting them out in the winter? Some folks around here give poisonous plants no thought. They just fence their property boundaries, forest and field, and let the cows go to wandering. You never hear of them having poisoning problems. Feedback?
 
I've got buckeye in the pasture too, as well as many other poisonous plants. Cattle know what they can eat and what they cannot. As long as you keep plenty of forage in front of them I would not worry about them. Spot treat as you can over time but otherwise just turn them loose.
Cutting plants down will often times inspire them to grown more. If I were you I would find a good herbicide recommended for the particular plant.
 
yeah if you are going to cut down the black cherry trees id wait and do it in the wintertime. if you are good at tree id no worries but if you arent you might want to spray paint or something on them while you can tell what they are. I leave all mine and just scout them after a storm.

i agree with nova about the cows tending to stay away from poisonous plants if they have a choice.
 
I'd give a call to the local extention agent...up here we have a weed control board that visits the folks that have noxious weeds and issues warnings...they also publish some nice pamplets with color pictures and reccomendations on eradicating the offending plants. DMC
 
mudfork":3u2lzcl6 said:
We have lots of black cherry also. Am I better off leaving them standing now and work on cutting them out in the winter?

Leave them till winter, if you cut them now the leaves will be in the wilt stage when you get your cattle. They form some type of cyanide in the wilted leaves.

I have heard some folks don't think they are poison, I can tell you first hand they are deadly.
About ten years ago we had a tornado come through and spent days cleaning up the damage, repairing fences etc.
A few days later I found my 2,000 lb bull dead in the middle of the field. couldn't figure out what happened to him until we found a blown down cherry tree we had missed. His tracks were all around it. He must have camped out till the leaves were gone.
His were the only tracks around it and he was the only fatality.
I cut every cherry tree in the pasture I can find, but only in the winter.
 
Sounds like a lot of unnecessary worry to me. We have lots of everything; buckeye, cherry, wild plum, etc. If you have a blowdown and cows eat wilted leaves, then yes you have a problem. As long as the trees are alive and green, they can get fat and sassy on them with no problems. I have one farm in particular rented where the previous tenant didn't mow for twenty years and the whole place is a thicket. I call that herd the girlscout herd because they live off of twigs and berries and do quite well. There is still a lot of patchy grass, but my point is this: They have free access to virtually any woody species that exists in the eastern U.S. and none have died yet.
 

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