June2014_Toxic Plants & Livestock
UQ Vets Dayboro,
125 McKenzie Street, Dayboro.
Phone 3425 1544 ALL HOURS
Dayboro day has been and gone and winter is starting to settle in. With the onset of the cooler weather the grass is slower to grow. Great for mowing, not so great if you have stock.
If you have paddocks with little standing feed going into winter, then you are in for a bad time. The worst time for stock is actually spring, just before the heat and rain can give the pasture a good growth spurt. If the stock are starved of green pick they will clean it up as fast as it grows. You then have a vicious cycle with the paddocks taking even longer to recover. The weeds start taking over so the pasture quality is even more depleted as the grass competes with the stock and the weeds! If this is looking like your scenario then start stocking up on feed for winter now.
The other problem that we see over this period is stock looking for green pick and if they can’t get it off the ground they start on anything green, which brings us to the toxic plants in this area. Most stock are susceptible but cattle are the most prone to toxic plants. They have a rumen, which is basically a large fermenting bag. The fermentation is brilliant for releasing all the goodness from plant material but this also means that it is great for releasing the toxins in some plants and it stays in the rumen for some time. The animal then starts to absorb the toxins.
The MOST common toxic plants which concern cattle here are Lantana, Bracken Fern , Poison Peach and the Solanums.
The Lantana that we are mostly concerned with in this district is the red/orange flowering variety. It is smaller than the larger rambling pink flowering one and is often found under the pink bush. The toxin attacks the liver and the animal becomes photosensitive, resulting in sunburn to the paler areas such as the nose and any white patches. Animals often present as ill and jaundiced (yellow tinge to the “whites” of the eyes or mucous membranes). Severe cases will die but early treatment is often successful. The most effective way to control this is get rid of the lantana!
Bracken Fern is much nastier and there is no treatment. The toxin attacks the bone marrow and the animal becomes anemic and dies very rapidly. The first thing you will usually notice is red urine. Although cattle don’t usually eat bracken fern the tender new shoots after a burn off can be particularly tempting. Again the safest strategy is to remove the plants.
Poison Peach is a fairly inconspicuous looking plant which cattle don’t usually eat but again, when the pickings are slim they can be tempted. Goats on the other hand seem to be quite partial to it. The toxin in poison peach also affects the liver and symptoms are usually seen 2-3 days after it has been ingested. There is no treatment for this one either except supportive care but the animal will often die within three days of eating it. Symptoms you may see are the animal being down, off their food and colic like symptoms.
There is a family of plants in the area called “solanums” which include wild tobacco, devil’s apple and a few others. These will cause diarrhoea and severe weight loss in horses, camels and cattle. Camels in particular seem to think they’re very tasty.
Although we’ve talked mostly about cattle, all livestock are at risk and we also regularly treat camels & goats (despite popular opinion they can eat everything!). If you have any concerns about what’s in your paddock or what your stock have been eating please give us a call.
