dun":29j3ip42 said:
Was talking to the folks at NRCS the other day, they mentioned that a lot of people are bringing in samples wondering what it was. So far (knock on wood) I haven;t seen any here. But now I'll be keeping a closer look out for it. Maybe we've gotten enough rain that it's washing it off.
Dun
I sent those pictures and a few more (we have rust also) to the extension (Tim Schnackenberg), and he said this:
"The two pictures are good shots of fescue ergot. The one show stem and leaf rust on fescue. We have had perfect conditions this year for both. I am confident the ergot is giving you troubles and wouldn't be surprised it is related to the conception rate problem. I am unaware if the rust can affect the cattle but wouldn't be surprised. Mowing was a good move on your part.
We are noticing a lot of ergot this year. The orange seed is one stage of it I believe just before it turns black. Probably like the flowering stage. We are having a lot of discussion right now in extension on whether or not the cattle trouble only comes when they consume the black/orange seeds or if it has been releasing ergot alkaloids for many weeks before. My leaning would be to say that ergot alkaloids have been released for a while but no one seems to have done research on this. The Vet Diagnostic lab is looking into this on campus."
So, Dun, if what they suspect is true, the cattle eating the grass will still show the effects of the poisoning even if the seeds are not consumed (ergot alkaloids in the grass itself). Our cattle are getting ready to move off a pasture that has the seed heads still on the stems, so they have been exposed since they rotated there the end of May. The grass I pictured above was taken from the pasture we are rotating to, and I did brush hog that pasture down to knock the seed heads off and prevent pink eye from the dry stems. I found the black seeds on grass that was growing near the t-poles that I could not brush hog around (used to pull temp poly wire around in the small grazing paddocks we set up in the pasture), or I would have never seen it like that on the stem. The brush hog was covered in seed when I pulled out of the pasture, and it looked like it had been stored in a feed mill and mice had crawled all over it and pooped everywhere (hence, the black seeds from the ergot infection). We have never seen it this bad out here, but this has been an unusually wet year for us.
On a side note, we had our final steer weigh in on Sunday. Three of the steers showed evidence of fescue poisoning. Two had lost their switches and stopped gaining the beginning of June, and one looked to be losing his hooves (dead lame on all four, swollen lower limbs...). The kids were stumped, because the cattle are fed in a little dry pen, just corn, Amino Gain, and orchard grass. Then, we found out that when they baled hay the first part of June, the hay not picked up by the baler was gathered and feed to the three steers. It only takes a few days to see the effects of fescue poisoning on naive cattle, and since these steers had been in a dry lot with no exposure for likely 8 months, they would be considered naive.
We learn something new all the time in this business!