Wild Mustard Question

[Flying G]

I know there is a post about this a few lines down but I don't have alfalfa and I didn't want to hijack that thread. I am about to lease some land in central Texas that has been used for cattle in the past and some wheat production but didn't have any or very few head on it the last few months. With all the rain the rye and volunteer wheat and oats are nice and thick but about a month ago the mustard jumped and when it did it jumped big time! Like 95%+ of this entire place is covered in this crap and it is 3-5' tall everywhere. I would like for someone to tell me how they have dealt with this mess and how it turned out for them. We have plans to shred it when the lease starts on May 1st but right now but the real concern I have is this stuff continuing to come up and what it will do to any cows I put on the place. I have read all kinds of literature about it being toxic to cattle so I am just looking for some real world experience here on what others have done to deal with this stuff and if I need to avoid this place altogether if it is going to be a nightmare to deal with or hazardous to any cattle I put out there.
Thanks

 

[cross_7]

years ago i had a bad experience with mustard weed.
cattle would go blind, some would recover 100% and had a few that didn't.
i didn't know at first what caused it, but after i figured it out i would spray 2-4D when they first began to come up in the spring and that took care of the problem.
they should be dieing off pretty soon and you shouldn't have to worry about them till next spring.
this is a bad mustard weed year so i wouldn't think every year will be this bad.

 

[baleflipper]

I live in central Texas. I run cows in the Lockhart area. Wild mustard is incredible this year.I cant speak for others but the wild mustard in my fields came up with my fall planted wheat. If I had known then what it was going to do I would have sprayed it with 2/4 D back in Sept.
I now am mowing 5 foot tall thick wild mustard. I never had heard it was toxic to cows. I have had some wild mustard for several years and the cows ate it in the early stages of growth. That was why I did not spray it. You can bet I will spray it from now on! It not only is in the fields but it is in the creek bottoms and Mesquite pastures.
Nothing can grow under it because it blocks the sunlight. I am mowing any thing I can get to with the tractor. I have noticed that where the burr clover was thick there is no mustard.
Running in low gear pulling a 15 foot mower. Have to blow radiator out at lunch every day and when I quit in evenings. Stuff is a mess.

Bale Flipper

 

[Flying G]

I really appreciate your posts guys, cross_7 that is exactly what I was wondering about. My hope is that by shredding it and then trying to stay on top of it I can manage around it. This place is just shy of 300 acres so with what I am having to pay for it I cant afford to put much "extra" in to. 2-4D is not that expensive but it isnt free either when you have to start spraying that big of an area. Baleflipper I am not that far from you, in the Thorndale area. Our family place on the other end of Milam county near Jones Prairie has been mustard free thank God but this new place I can tell is going to take some work. I am hoping the grass can outrun the weeds and we can cut some hay off of it and have it ready for cattle by the end of the summer or early fall. As long as they arent eating the seeds in a green growing stage or eating a large number of seeds in hay where you just baled up the entire plant you are in the clear I gather.

 

[novatech]

I read the same, the seeds are toxic the leaves are not.
I cut and raked the thick areas while it was still green. I then burnt the windrows. I cannot say but I hope I burnt some of the seed.
The areas where I did this are now bare ground. I guess I will be treating it again for weeds pretty soon. A year ago it was solid Johnson grass.
The rest of the hay fields are no better with other types of winter weeds. The pasture are covered with thistle. Until recently they all looked like lush clover fields.
All in all I wiil still take the weeds being as they came with the much needed rains.

 

[1982vett]

OK....so just how many tons of seed do they need to eat to hurt them....

 

[1982vett]

I read the same, the seeds are toxic the leaves are not.
I cut and raked the thick areas while it was still green. I then burnt the windrows. I cannot say but I hope I burnt some of the seed.
The areas where I did this are now bare ground. I guess I will be treating it again for weeds pretty soon. A year ago it was solid Johnson grass.
The rest of the hay fields are no better with other types of winter weeds. The pasture are covered with thistle. Until recently they all looked like lush clover fields.
All in all I wiil still take the weeds being as they came with the much needed rains.

LOL...to keep from spraying right now, I'm cutting the clover, ryegrass, needle grass, resuce grass, wild rye, mustard and thistle...Figure the cows will have plenty of time to sort it all out.

I'm guessing that the grass the drought didn't kill the clover will. :shock:

 

[novatech]

LOL...to keep from spraying right now, I'm cutting the clover, ryegrass, needle grass, resuce grass, wild rye, mustard and thistle...Figure the cows will have plenty of time to sort it all out.

I'm guessing that the grass the drought didn't kill the clover will. :shock:

I'm hooking up the cutter tomorrow and doing the same. If the rain stops, which they are predicting, I plan on have hay to sell, good or bad.
It still beats the rice straw people were paying 100 plus a bale for.

 

[cross_7]

OK....so just how many tons of seed do they need to eat to hurt them....

i can tell you it doesn't take as much as you would think.
some never did recover 100% eye sight.

Flying G
24-d is not cheap but losing a cow or calf aint either, but the 24-d will kill your clover too
seems like mustard likes bare spots so if your grass was thick enough it would help hold the mustard back some.

 

[1982vett]

OK....so just how many tons of seed do they need to eat to hurt them....

i can tell you it doesn't take as much as you would think.
some never did recover 100% eye sight.

Flying G
24-d is not cheap but losing a cow or calf aint either, but the 24-d will kill your clover too
seems like mustard likes bare spots so if your grass was thick enough it would help hold the mustard back some.

In the 30 years it has been prevalent around here, I have never heard of anyone having any problems with cows eating mustard seed...Don't know why.... maybe ours it wild turnip...or maybe it has never been enough in the hay to cause a problem...But I also have a theory as to why a cow will eat to much of something that is not good for them...

 

[1982vett]

I'm hooking up the cutter tomorrow and doing the same. If the rain stops, which they are predicting, I plan on have hay to sell, good or bad.
It still beats the rice straw people were paying 100 plus a bale for.

Well dang....wasn't cause we didn't try, but it just wouldn't bale...seems just because we didn't bale a bale last year doesn't give us a free pass on all the trouble we avoided last year....Hope yours went better novatech.

I imagine there will be a lot of hay available that is as good as the hay that was was shipped in available to be shipped back out. :lol:

 

[novatech]

In the 30 years it has been prevalent around here, I have never heard of anyone having any problems with cows eating mustard seed...Don't know why.... maybe ours it wild turnip...or maybe it has never been enough in the hay to cause a problem...But I also have a theory as to why a cow will eat to much of something that is not good for them...

I have noticed that the seed drops off pretty fast after cutting.

 

[cross_7]

[

quote="1982vett"]

In the 30 years it has been prevalent around here, I have never heard of anyone having any problems with cows eating mustard seed...Don't know why.... maybe ours it wild turnip...or maybe it has never been enough in the hay to cause a problem...But I also have a theory as to why a cow will eat to much of something that is not good for them...

[/quote]

the first time was back in my younger days and we had put a set of replacement heifers in a small trap at the house.
it was late winter and we don't have ryegrass, clover & etc like ya'll, just dry standing grass.
we don't feed hay we just supplement the grass with cake.
some years we have lots of mustard weed and when it's the only thing green they will eat it, if they had something else green to eat i'm sure it wouldn't be a problem but it is one of the only green plants till the grass greens up in spring.

 

[1982vett]

In the 30 years it has been prevalent around here, I have never heard of anyone having any problems with cows eating mustard seed...Don't know why.... maybe ours it wild turnip...or maybe it has never been enough in the hay to cause a problem...But I also have a theory as to why a cow will eat to much of something that is not good for them...

the first time was back in my younger days and we had put a set of replacement heifers in a small trap at the house.
it was late winter and we don't have ryegrass, clover & etc like ya'll, just dry standing grass.
we don't feed hay we just supplement the grass with cake.
some years we have lots of mustard weed and when it's the only thing green they will eat it, if they had something else green to eat i'm sure it wouldn't be a problem but it is one of the only green plants till the grass greens up in spring.

Now that ties in to my "theory"...I think being "forcefed" a ration is a source of many problems and issues. an animal just isn't able to pick and choose. I've always tried to provide a choice...and I think hungry cattle tend to eat whatever is available... good or bad.

Last year I got as to not being able to provide a choice, but I managed to have excelent hay at the time I needed it the most...and the cows never went hungry.