- The Great Drought and Heat Wave of 2012 are severely damaging crops and forages throughout Indiana. Not only are ponds and creeks drying up, but pastures are turning brown as well. In many fields, the only green plants are noxious weeds. So, there will be increased chances that livestock will eat toxic plants because there isn’t any grass to eat.
This spring and summer have seen a bumper crop of Poison Hemlock
growing along roadsides, in ditches and in some grazing areas. As a consequence, the ADDL has had increased reports of livestock exposed to, and poisoned from eating poison hemlock plants because there was little else to eat other than the poison hemlock. We also have recent reports that White Snakeroot
is already growing well, so we can anticipate livestock might resort to eating it as well.Nitrates
- The severe drought has made conditions right for increased uptake of nitrates into cornstalks and other nitrate-accumulating plants
. Before using cornstalks, or nitrate-accumulating plants as forage, consider the possibility of toxic levels of nitrate in them and have a representative sample tested for nitrates before using.
The Indiana ADDL at Purdue can test for white snakeroot ingestion in livestock and for the amounts of nitrates in forage.Blue-Green Algae
- the drought and heat have resulted in perfect conditions for blue-green algae growth. Blue-green algae is found in freshwater lakes, streams and ponds where water is warm and stagnant. Blue-green algae is poisonous. While some types of algae are harmless, the blue-green type can produce a natural toxin. Some form toxins that affect the nervous system and others produce toxins that affect the liver. Livestock, pets and wild animals can be poisoned by the toxins produced by some algal blooms. Dogs are particularly susceptible to blue-green algae poisoning because the scum can attach to their coats and be swallowed during self-cleaning.
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The Purdue Ag Extension Disaster Education (EDEN) website on drought information:https://ag.purdue.edu/extension/eden/Pages/drought.aspx
The Indiana Board of Animal Health has a blue-green algae website:http://www.in.gov/boah/2617.htm
A link to the Purdue Agronomy and Extension publication on nitrates by Jim Camberato and Keith Johnson can be found at:http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/Forage%20Analysis%20for%20Nitrate%202012.pdf
A link to the USDA document listing nitrate-accumulating plants can be found at:http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=9956
A link to Indiana Plants Poisonous to Livestock and Pets:http://vet.vet.purdue.edu/toxic/cover1.htm
The Indiana ADDL at Purdue University:https://www.addl.purdue.edu/