Caswell County Center
126 Court Square
Post Office Box 220
Yanceyville, NC 27379-0220
(PHONE) 336-694-4158
(FAX) 336-694-5930
Caswell AMAZING GRAZING Extension Notes
FALL 2007
It finally rained the
week before last! In three days, up to seven
inches of rain fell to help restore the dry ponds,
creeks and burned up pastures. This drought
year will definitely be recorded in the history
books along with 1953 and 1983 years. The
2007 year went by fast and we are already
getting into the holidays. It has been another
busy week with many questions coming in on
drought and hay availability. Obviously, with
all of the calls this summer, you all are
scrambling and thinking about how you can
feed your livestock without selling out and
paying a fortune for hay. It is really now a
matter of survival for many of our livestock
producers and we need to be putting as much
effort into this as we can. Here’s some
information that may help some of the livestock
farmers survive the upcoming winter with
limited feed supplies. Grazing small grains or
annual ryegrass are the only two seeds left
that you can plant this year in order to get
some late winter and early spring grazing. Notilling the ryegrass in existing pastures works
well.
If there is anything we can do to help you in
your farming enterprises, family and consumer
sciences, or 4-H youth development, don’t
hesitate to call us at 336-694-4158.
North Carolina Cattle Industry Assessment
Referendum
The North Carolina Cattlemen’s Association
(NCCA) has announced that
the
NC
Cattle
Industry
Assessment Referendum vote
will take place on November
14, 2007.
At the NC
Cattlemen’s Association’s joint
Board of Directors and annual
Business Meeting in February, during the 56th
annual NC Cattlemen’s Conference, the Board
of Directors voted to pursue the referendum.
The County Extension Office will serve as the
poling place in Caswell County.
The referendum language will be to assess all
cattle one dollar per head for the purpose of
promoting the cattle industry in North Carolina.
The funds will be used for producer education
regarding beef production topics, beef
production research, youth education and
leadership
development
events,
NCCA
administration, beef industry leadership
development, promotion and marketing of NC
cattle, and promoting the interests of the cattle
industry. Current beef check-off funds cannot
be used for any of these purposes. The NC
Dairy Industry should benefit from this
program, as dairy cattle will also be assessed
at the same level.
The beef check-off does a fine job of
increasing consumer demand for beef;
however, there are many cattle production
issues within the state we need to address. By
federal law, beef check-off dollars cannot be
used for any purpose other than the promotion
of beef or research to improve beef quality.
For this reason, after a lot of discussion within
the industry, we are convinced of the need to
reinstate the original state assessment
program.
All NC cattle owners over the age of 18, as of
November 14, 2007, are eligible to vote during
the regular business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at
the Caswell County Extension Office.
Potential for Prussic Acid Poisoning
Every year at first
frost we get
a lot of questions
about
grazing frost bitten
sorghumsudan. Anytime you
have frost
on a sorghum or
sorghum x
sudan crop there is
potential for
prussic
acid
poisoning.
Prussic acid, also known as hydrocyanic acid,
is a problem in wilted wild cherry leaves and
occasionally wilted leaves from other fruit
species. The other major plants with potential
for this problem are members of the sorghum
family including Johnsongrass, shatter cane,
grain or forage sorghum, and sorghum x sudan
hybrids (aka sudex or sudax).
There are
several other grasses that may be a problem
including sudangrass, but most don't grow in
our area. Any of the sorghum species can be
toxic very early in their growth (maybe up to
knee high), and then when there are new
sprouts that grow following a drought or frost.
Johnsongrass is the most problematic plant,
and to be totally safe you should wait until it is
waist high and starting to head to graze the
early growth, or when it is frosted on you need
to wait two weeks after the killing freeze.
When Johnsongrass is in pastures as a spotty
weed, it does not pose as great a risk as long
as there is little enough to where cattle can't
eat it as a high proportion of their diet. Right
now, the best advice we can give is that there
will be a risk in grazing it from now until about
two weeks after the killing freeze.
If a
producer chooses to harvest forages that have
been frosted on it is best to make dry hay from
it. The prussic acid will dissipate from the hay.
In silage, some of the prussic acid will be
retained, but some of it will dissipate during
removal and handling of the silage, although it
probably will be retained in the balage to a
higher extent than chopped silage.
If a
producer really wants to graze the crop and it
has had just a touch of frost (or for future
reference when summer growth resumes after
drought) it is advisable to turn in a few low
value animals (i.e. open cull cows) and see
how they do. If they stay out for several days
without any symptoms it is likely safe, but keep
in mind that the problem can develop when
there is a series of light frosts followed by
regrowth.
The symptoms of prussic acid
poisoning are gasping, staggering, trembling
muscles, convulsions, and death from
respiratory failure. The mucus membranes will
be blue in color. There is a treatment for the
condition, Sodium Thiosulfate, but that can
only be administered by a veterinarian and
generally will not be in time to save the
animals. Hungry cattle are more at risk.
Never turn hungry cattle into a stand of forage
with prussic acid potential. Interestingly we get
a lot of calls this time of year, but the greatest
problem is with wild cherry trees during the
summer thunderstorm season, and very few
producers seem concerned that those trees
are in their pastures.
Ruminal Impaction Problems
Ruminal impaction is a situation where the
rumen becomes packed, usually with low
quality forage, to the point that the opening into
the lower gut is obstructed and animals go off
feed and eventually die. We have seen this in
two situations. One is when cattle are fed very
low protein forage and ruminal digestion can't
work fast enough to clear the forage from their
system. They get backed up, the rumen gets
impacted and they bloat and die. This is
usually associated with a ruminally degradable
nitrogen deficiency. In this case a protein
block or lick tank probably would be a
lifesaver, although there are more economical
protein supplements that will help. It appears
that letting cattle get hungry so that they eat a
lot of low quality hay in a short time probably is
also involved with impaction cases caused by
mature bermudagrass, which can have very
tough stems. The other situation is where
hungry cattle very rapidly eat higher quality
forage. They essentially gorge on it, and don't
chew it as much as they normally would. This
results in a larger particle size in the rumen
than they would have when eating slower and
chewing better. It makes sense that forages
with very long stems would be worse on this,
but it is not always clear exactly why it
happens because sometimes it is caused by
feeding a large amount of very fine textured
forage as well. What happens in this situation
is that the long particles get knotted up in a ball
in the reticulum (also known as the honeycomb
where the esophagus comes in and below it
where the exit to the rumen is) obstructing the
opening and preventing digestion from flowing
on down the track. Eventually both the entry
and exit will be blocked and they will then bloat
and die. Usually death from impaction occurs
over a longer time and the animal loses weight
rapidly and goes down, but in the situation
where something that is pretty fermentable is
fed to cattle and impaction occurs, death could
happen quickly. There are related problems
including abomasal impaction that have similar
results. Sometimes it is caused by nothing
more than a problem in an individual animal
that has reduced ruminal motility. This is a
complex problem with many factors influencing
it including lack of water, so the water source
should always be checked when investigating
any problem like this.
Water Availability
Don't take water availability for
granted. Much of the state was
blessed the week before last with
enough rain to at least recharge
some of the ponds and streams.
However, groundwater levels are still depleted
and wells in some areas will continue to go
dry. If the water source is a shallow pond, old
and weak cattle and calves may have a hard
time reaching it and get stuck in the mud. We
need to stress that the water source should be
checked every day in these situations where
sources are drying up.
Nitrate Poisoning
Go to www.ces.ncsu.edu/disaster/drought for
detailed information on nitrate poisoning. This
is one of the times of the year we see a lot of
problems with nitrate poisoning. Basically in
the fall of the year producers keep cattle on
pasture as long as they can, and then pull
them in and feed hay. In this situation cattle
are often hungry when first offered hay. Cattle
have been on hay in the Piedmont for
sometime now, but in the mountains many
producers are getting ready to feed hay, and
some of that from unusual sources. Make sure
you know the nitrate level in your hay, and
stress that hungry cattle should never be fed
hay of unknown nitrate status, or hay known to
contain over 0.25% nitrate. Rolling out some
hay when grass is starting to play out is an
advisable management practice, as opposed
to abruptly starting full hay feeding. I have had
questions from agents about how to manage
hay with greater than 1.5% nitrate several
times this week. Diluting it with other feeds
(i.e. unroll some of the high nitrate hay to
provide 1/4 of the cows daily need) with other
hay free-choice, or grinding it with other feeds
is ideal. Another option is to use the bacterial
inoculant called “BovaPro” that is a bolus that
can be given to cattle two weeks before they
need to be fed high nitrate hay. That product
is backed by a lot of research and experience,
and might be indicated in some situations.
Cost is somewhere around $8/cow and it can
be obtained on-line (search for Feed Safe,
BovaPro) or from major animal health
distributors.
Acorn Poisoning
There is always a risk of acorn
poisoning in the fall of the year
where oak trees are in pastures.
This condition is somewhat of a
paradox because we know acorns
are an important source of feed for wildlife, and
cattle will readily eat them. They generally
cause few problems, and cattle will always eat
most of the acorns available in pastures. If
they consume too many, too fast, the tannins
they contain can be metabolized in the rumen
into a substance that is a kidney toxin. The
toxin is thought to be gallotannin or a
metabolite of that compound. The condition is
not totally understood, but in affected animals
kidney function is compromised (because of
tubular necrosis) and cattle go off feed and
rapidly lose weight.
Sometimes they will
recover, but often the condition is fatal. Most
poisoning cases here appear to be due to
white oak and chestnut oak acorns. The only
treatment is to remove them from the source of
acorns and feed a very low protein diet. Acorn
poisoning seems to be more of a problem with
larger calves that have been on limited grass
and are then moved into a pasture with many
acorns on the ground resulting in a rapid
intake. Nursing calves can also be affected
because the toxic principles can be transferred
to the milk. Acorns can also cause agalactia
(no or little milk) in fall calving cows. Affected
cattle will first show signs of constipation,
followed by an abnormal (dark or yellowish)
colored thick diarrhea, sometimes with blood.
A common practice to prevent the condition is
feeding a 10% calcium hydroxide (slaked lime
or hydrated lime), 90% grain supplement at 4
lbs./day for mature cows and 2 lbs./day for
weaned calves.
This preventative was
developed to prevent oak sprout poisoning, but
appears to also help in preventing acorn
poisoning.
December Beef Management Tips
Spring Calving Herds
Market backgrounded calves
Feed replacement heifers to gain 1.5
to 1.75 lbs. per day
Monitor body condition of cows
Attend bull and replacement heifer
sales
Market cull cows this month or in
January; hopefully you have already
done this with the summer drought
Send in soil samples if not done earlier
this year
Fall Calving Herds
Begin breeding season on cows;
complete AI on heifers
Monitor body condition on cows and
especially first calf heifers
Feed cows extra energy after calving
Keep cows on stockpiled grass as long
as available
Check heaters in waterers regularly
Send in soil samples if not done earlier
this year
January Beef Management Tips
Spring Calving Herds
Begin to gather calving supplies
Keep late pregnant cows gaining 1.0
lb. per day
Pregnant heifers and 3 yr. olds should
gain 2.0-2.5 lbs. per day
Keep high quality minerals available
Review calving assistance procedures
Stockpile a few gallons of colostrums
Attend performance tested bull sales
and/or order semen for AI
Soil test pastures not tested in last 3
years
Order clover seed for frost seeding
later this winter
Fall Calving Herds
Begin/continue breeding
Check cow and bull condition
Supplement energy to young bulls
during breeding season
Send in forage test if not done earlier
this year
Continue to check calves closely for
health problems
Re-implant September and early
October born calves that were
implanted at birth
Soil test pastures not tested in last 3
years
Order clover seed for frost seeding
later this winter
Sincerely,
Joey E. Knight, III
Joey E. Knight, III
County Extension Director
JEK/psm