Poisonous plants of the Canadian prairies

PUBLICATION 900

JUNE 1956

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POISONOUS PLANTS

OF THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES

530.4
C212
P 900

(1961 prin^
c.2

ESEARCH BRANCH • CANADA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction 3

Plants with Poisonous Properties 3

Seaside Arrowgrass 4

Death Camas 4

Lady's Thumb 4

Greasewood 5

Low and Tall Larkspur 5

Chokecherry 6

Lupines 6

Milk Vetches 6

Locoweeds 7

Timber Milk Vetch 7

Golden Bean 7

Water Hemlock 8

Baneberry 8

Poison Ivy 8

Other Poisonous or Harmful Plants 9

Losses Caused by Common Cultivated Plants 10

Sorghum 10

Flax 10

Nitrate or Oat Hay Poisoning 10

Bloat 11

A Potential Invader with Poisonous Characters 12

Pasture Management in Relation to Poisonous Plants 12

Over-grazing 12

Date of Range Readiness 13

Movement of Hungry Livestock 13

Drought 13

Irregular Occurences 13

General Management 14

Control of Poisonous Plants 14

Summary 15

Appendix 1 16

Appendix II 18

5M— 27590— 3:61

POISONOUS PLANTS OF THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES

J. B. Campbell1, R. W. Lodge2, and A. C. Budd3

Introduction

Poisonous plants are those that contain or produce poisonous suostances
in sufficient amounts to harm humans and livestock. Depending on the nature
of the poison and the amount of plant material eaten, an animal may die,
be disabled permanently, or may recover completely. While some plants
cause immediate sickness or death following consumption, others have to be
eaten for many days before symptoms of poisoning develop. A few plants
contain poisons that are excreted nearly as fast as eaten, and losses occur only
when large amounts are consumed in a short time or on certain days. Other
plants cause wounds or skin eruptions in both humans and livestock. When
seeds of at least one plant are eaten, they cause muscle contraction and sleepi-
ness in children.

Although poisonous plants are widely distributed across Western Canada,
few are found in heavy stands. Generally, plants with poisonous properties
grow amongst others that have excellent forage properties. Further, many
have short seasons of growth. Because of the nature of their growth, habitat,
and distribution, poisonous plants will be a hazard in the use of native grass-
lands for many years to come.

Plants With Poisonous Properties

Of some 60 or so plants growing in the Prairie Provinces that are reported
to have poisonous characters, only a few are both plentiful and widespread.
These include:

Seaside Arrowgrass — Triglochin maritima L.

Death Camas — Zygadenus gramineus Rydb.

Lady's Thumb — Polygonum spp.

Greasewood — Sarcobatus vermiculatus (Hook.) Torr.

Low Larkspur — Delphinium bicolor Nutt.

Tall Larkspur — Delphinium scopulorum Gray

Chokecherry — Prunus spp.

Lupines — Lupinus argenteus Pursh

Milk Vetches — Astragalus pectinatus (Hook.) Dougl.

Astragalus bisulcatus (Hook.) A. Gray

Timber Milk Vetch — Astragalus serotinus A. Gray

Golden Bean — Thermopsis rhombijolia (Nutt.) Richards

Locoweeds — Oxytropis spp.

Water Hemlock — Cicuta Douglasii (DC.) Coult. & Rose

Baneberry — Actaea rubra (Ait.) Willd.

Poison Ivy — Rhus radicans L.

The above-listed species are credited with causing the greatest losses
amongst livestock. At least two may affect adult human beings, and four
are dangerous to children.

1 Head, Pasture Section, Experimental Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

2 Range Ecologist, Pasture Section, Experimental Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

3 In charge of Range Botany, Experimental Station, Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

93159-2— n

Seaside Arrowgrass

Seaside arrowgrass is found in sparse or dense stands on wet saline soils
throughout the Prairie Provinces. Occasional plants may grow amongst grasses
in marshy areas, but the species is more commonly found in dense stands
on wet saline flats. One of the most extensive stands known dominates the
vegetation on the neck of land joining lakes Chaplin and Johnstone in southern
Saskatchewan.

The plant looks like grass but it can be distinguished by its spongy leaves
which are round on one side and flat on the other. During mid-June the
flower stalks grow to a height of one to three feet, with many small green
flowers on the upper half of the stalk; these flowers in turn produce small
oblong pods containing three or six seeds. The leaves have a salty taste and
are palatable to all classes of livestock.

Hydrocyanic acid (HCN) is the poisonous principle in arrowgrass. It
affects animals quickly. However, death seldom occurs unless an animal eats
a lethal dose at one feeding — about 5 pounds of air-dry material with 0 • 02 per
cent HCN content are required to kill a mature cow. Fresh green leaves
have a higher HCN content than mature dry plants, and thus hay containing
arrowgrass is often fed without loss.

Arrowgrass poisoning is characterized by abnormal breathing, trembling,
and staggering, while convulsions usually precede death. Recommended treat-
ments include corn syrup drenches, and intraperitoneal injections of 2 grams
sodium thiosulphate with 1 gram sodium nitrite in a 20 per cent water solu-
tion. Very hungry animals should not be pastured on land containing arrow-
grass. A recently recommended medicinal remedy is a water solution of sodium
thiosulphate known to photographers as "hypo" injected into the jugular vein
or administered orally. This treatment has not been tested sufficiently to
warrant its indiscriminate use.

Death Camas

Death camas is often miscalled the yellow onion because it grows from a
bulb, has deep green pulpy leaves, and small yellow flowers clustered at the end
of the one- to two-foot flower stalk. However, it does not have the garlic scent
of the native onion. Death camas is common throughout the prairie region. Its
heaviest stands occur in draws, on hillsides, and around the edges of grassy
sloughs, while occasional plants are found on level upland.

Losses from death camas occur from mid-May to late June, and are more
numerous on over-grazed than on well managed pastures. The first symptoms
of poisohing are salivation and nausea, followed by staggering and prostration;
a coma usually precedes death. Breathing is difficult at all times.

Poisoned animals should be kept quiet and provided with food and water.
Death camas tablets, if available, may be administered according to directions.
However, the only sure way to prevent losses is to keep livestock, particularly
sheep, off ground infested with death camas until early July. After this date
few, if any, losses are reported from eating this plant.

Lady's Thumb

Lady's thumb grows in shallow water in non-alkaline sloughs and marshes,
usually in mixtures with water grasses and sedges. Its vigorous growth, broad
green leaves, and clusters of small white, pink, or red flowers distinguish it
from the associated plants.

Lady's thumb has a high protein content and is reported to be palatable
when fed in hay mixtures. However, when eaten in its green stage it is charged
with causing a condition known as photosensitization or yellows, or bighead
in sheep, as well as amongst other animals with an unpigmented skin. Losses
of weight and condition result from poisoning. Recovery is speeded by keeping
animals out of direct sunlight and changing feed.

Greasewood

Greasewood is a spinescent shrub which grows to a height of three feet
on many saline flats throughout the prairie area. It grows in association with
bluejoint, Agropyron Smithii Rydb., and other grasses, and may be either
quite sparse or very abundant.

The buds and young leaves of greasewood contain salts of oxalic acid which
are the poisonous principles. Poisoning is indicated by depression, and weak
pulse and respiration. Losses can be prevented by pasture management prac-
tices that defer grazing greasewood-infested areas until after the associated
grasses have made a good spring growth. Sheep, and particularly lambs, are
reported to be more susceptible to greasewood poisoning than cattle.

Low and Tall Larkspur

Low larkspur grows in the Foothills, Cypress Hills, Wood Mountain, and
other high grassland areas throughout the southern prairie region. It seldom
attains a height of more than two feet, yet its showy, dark blue, spurred
flowers are a prominent feature of its habitat. Plants mature and wither away
by mid-July, after making a rapid growth during late May and June. It
grows, amongst grasses and shrubs and apparently requires some protection to
persist.

Tall larkspur is common throughout the Foothills of the Rocky Mountains,
and is found occasionally in the northern forests of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Its heaviest infestations are found in open stands of poplar. It may grow to
a height of eight feet, although usually shorter, and produces a profusion of
blue or mauve spurred flowers on its spike. The leaves are deeply dissected.
It commences growth during May and remains green until freeze-up.

Because of its short growing season, the low larkspur causes losses only
during the spring and early summer, and thus pastures infested with this
plant may be grazed after early July without danger. On the other hand,
tall larkspur lives throughout the summer, and thus may be the cause of
losses at any time during the grazing season. The presence" of these species
is not associated with types of pasture management, as both occur naturally
in their habitats. Likewise, their seasonal abundance 'appears to depend on
climatic factors rather than on management practices.

Because tall larkspur grows every year it is a potential cause of losses
every summer. Low larkspur, on the other hand, occurs in abundance at
frequent or infrequent intervals, and thus it is not the year-after-year menace
of the tall-growing species.

Sheep are rarely poisoned by larkspur, but cattle are very susceptible.
First symptoms of poisoning are loss of appetite, staggering, uneasiness, and
constipation. Nausea and bloating may follow, while in severe cases animals
fall with their heads pointing downhill and with their legs extended (see
cover). Turning an animal so that its head points uphill often lielps recovery
from mild attacks, while paunching should be done in all cases that are accom-
panied by excessive bloating.

6

Chokeoherrv

Ranchers report that both cattle and sheep die occasionally after feeding
on chokecherry plants. When losses are reported, it is usually found that the
chokecherry is dominant over the pasture, either because of natural conditions
or as a result of over-grazing. Because losses are reported usually long after
they occur, it has been difficult to determine experimentally the conditions
that caused the deaths charged to chokecherry. In any case, losses are sporadic,
while deaths of lambs are reported more frequently than those of other classes
of livestock.

Hydrocyanic acid (HCN) is the factor causing death, the same as in arrow-
grass. Symptoms include uneasiness, staggering, convulsions, with bloating
preceding death. Corn syrup or glucose drenches are recommended as antidotes.
One rancher reported his lamb losses stopped immediately after adding sulphur
to his salt supply; a mixture of one part sulphur to twelve parts of salt was used.

Lupines

Lupines are rarely found in the Prairie Provinces except in the Foothills
and Cypress Hills where they grow profusely amongst the grass cover. They
may attain a height of three feet, bear leaves divided into five to nine leaflets,
and have mauve, blue, or purple flowers clustered near the top of the stalk.
Cultivation may not kill the persistent roots.

Despite the fact that reports from the Intermountain States charge losses
amongst sheep to the lupine common in Western Canada few, if any, losses from
poisoning can be blamed on this species on the Canadian Prairies. In fact,
it is considered to be a good forage plant and is particularly valued in upland
hay mixtures. These differences illustrate an important point, namely, that
plants may be grazed or fed without loss in one district, while in another
region the same species may be the cause of regular livestock deaths.

The poisonous property of lupines is more concentrated in the seeds and
pods than in other parts of the plant. Over-feeding on seeds is reported to
result in nervousness, labored breathing, convulsions, and frothing. For-
tunately, the toxic principle is excreted readily by the kidneys and death
results only when the lethal limit is eaten at one feeding.

Milk Vetches

All milk vetches were considered to be fair quality forage plants until a
few years ago. Today it is known that at least two prairie species may be
poisonous — the two-grooved milk vetch, Astragalus bisulcatus, and the narrow-
leaved milk vetch, A. pectinatus. Both species may contain considerable quan-
tities of selenium, an element that has been charged with causing skin eruptions,
contraction of small blood vessels, losses of tail and feet, and sterility in cattle.
These species are a natural constituent of the native grass cover wherever the
soil overlies marine shales of the Bearpaw, Belly River, Lea Park, and other
geological formations laid down during the Cretaceous period. Thus, where
abundant, they indicate that the soil in which they are growing may have a
high selenium content.

Both species are members of the pea family and both are easily recognized.
The two-grooved milk vetch is upright and grows to a height of two or more
feet. It has numerous leaflets on its many leaves, and the purple or blue flowers
are clustered near the end of the stalk. The narrow-leaved milk vetch is a
straggling plant. It has a few long, narrow leaflets on each leaf, and a few
cream-colored flowers at the end of the nearly prostrate stalk. The former
grows on shale outcrops, around sloughs, and in badlands, the latter amongst
the grass on sandy-loam and loam soils.

Although both plants are unpalatable, their presence indicates that grasses
and other plants growing adjacent may contain variable amounts of selenium.
Analyses of Western wheat grass plants growing a few inches from the narrow-
leaved milk vetch showed that the grass contained selenium concentrations of
35 parts per million, whereas none was found in the same species five feet away.
Concentrations of five parts per million, or over, are recognized as potentially
dangerous.

No cases of selenium poisoning have been reported during recent years in
Western Canada. However, losses charged to this element occurred during
the drought years of 1936-37, when cattle were fed large amounts of poor quality
hay harvested from seleniferous soils. If, because of drought, over-grazing, or
other causes, livestock are ever again forced to eat hay with a high selenium
content there is a possibility of the recurrence of losses. With careful pasture
management and sufficient reserves of good quality winter feed, no losses from
selenium poisoning should occur.

Locoweeds

Locoweeds are members of the pea family. They are short, seldom over
a foot in height, with each leaf and flower stalk growing from the crown. The
yellow or blue flowers mature into pods containing loose seeds which rattle
when shaken. Locoweeds occur throughout the prairie region and extend into
the surrounding bush and forest.

Nine species of locoweeds have been collected in the Prairie Provinces,
but dense or extensive stands are rare. When these plants are consumed by
livestock a disease known as locoism may result. This is recognized by dullness,
irregularities in gait and in eating habits, rough coats, and loss of muscular
control in horses. Cattle and sheep are less readily poisoned and their
symptoms, though similar, are not so pronounced.

Locoism occurs rarely if ever, today. Yet it must have been fairly
common amongst livestock in the early days of settlement if diagnoses were
correct. The best recommended cure is the same today as it was 75 years ago,
namely, move poisoned animals from infested areas and provide palatable and
nutritious feed until they recover. A suggested medicinal treatment for cattle
consists of hypodermic doses of 4/20 of a grain of strychnine inserted in the
shoulder daily for a 30-day period. Fowler's solution in water is suggested
for horses — f-ounce daily.

Timber Milk Vetch

Timber milk vetch poisoning is more common in lactating cows, ewes, and
mares than in other classes of livestock, though apparently no class is immune.
Symptoms are variable but emaciation, faulty digestion, hypersensitivity and
member of the pea family with greyish leaflets and white, pink, mauve, or
blue flowers.

Timber milk vetch poisoning is more common in lactating cows, ewes, and
mares than in other classes of livestock, though apparently no class is immune.
Symptoms are variable but emaciation, faulty digestion, hypersensitivity and
partial paralysis of the hindquarters are the most common. As the poisonous
principle is not known, the only recommended remedy is to move affected
animals to range free of the poisonous plant.

Golden Bean

The golden bean, also known as the golden pea or buffalo bean, is another
member of the pea family that has poisonous properties. It is an early season
plant with a wide distribution. It grows about one foot in height, has three
leaflets, showy yellow flowers, and its pod forms a half circle when ripe.

8

Although the entire plant is eaten by livestock with no known ill effects,
Dr. J. A. Matheson, Gull Lake, reported that four children were poisoned after
eating its ripening seeds. A narrative in the September, 1952, issue of the
Canadian Cattlemen reports a similar case in 1880 when children of a Mr. and
Mrs. Morden were "badly sickened" after eating seeds of the golden bean.
In the cases reported the symptoms of poisoning were dopiness, prostration,
and convulsions. Sedatives and rest were recommended and the children
recovered. Although the condition of poisoning has not been reproduced
experimentally, nevertheless these reports should be heeded and young children
warned against eating the seeds of this plant.

Water Hemlock

Water hemlock has been collected from springs and marshes across Western
Canada. Because it usually grows on ground inaccessible to grazing livestock,
there are few records of losses that can be charged to it. Experimental feeding
of its roots to rabbits failed to show that the species growing in Saskatchewan
had lethal properties, but losses of sheep in the Lac Pelletier area were attri-
buted to this plant. Thus, its eradication is recommended if the site is access-
ible.

The water hemlock is often confused with the palatable and apparently
non-poisonous water parsnip which grows in sloughs as well as in springs and
marshes. However, they can be distinguished easily, because the tri-pinnate
compound leaves and the cross partitions in the hollow stem base are characters
of the water hemlock not possessed by the water parsnip (refer to illustration
to distinguish these plants). Fruit and leaves of the water hemlock have
been grazed or fed in mixed hay without loss, as these portions of the plant
contain relatively small amounts of the toxic compound compared with the high
concentration found in the roots.

Animals poisoned by water hemlock froth at the mouth and display signs
of uneasiness and pain. This is followed by violent intermittent convulsions
during which the animal kicks, extends its legs rigidly, throws back its
head, and bellows and groans loudly. The convulsions grow more violent until
terminated by death. All cases are not necessarily fatal but there is little, if
anything, that can be done to aid recovery.

Baneberry

The baneberry is often found in shaded ravines and woodlands. It has
large, compound leaves, and a compound raceme of white flowers; its berries
are red and grow in clusters. The berries are very attractive to children and
several cases of poisoning as well as deaths have been attributed to eating fruit
of this plant.

Poison Ivy

This common but seldom recognized plant grows in open woodlands
and in other partially protected sites. It is distinguished by its compound
leaves composed of three leaflets, woody stem, and greenish-white berries. The
poisonous properties are contained in the stem, leaves, flowers, and fruit.
Contact with the plant causes skin blisters and inflammation. After contact
the affected parts should be thoroughly washed with a lather of warm water
and laundry soap. The rash can be treated with Condy's Fluid, a solution made
by dissolving a five-grain tablet of potassium permanganate in a quart of water.
It is advisable to consult a doctor in all cases.

9

Other Poisonous or Harmful Plants

The previous sections have described the characteristics of the more
important poisonous plants growing throughout the prairie area of Canada.
However, there are several other plants that when eaten or touched might
cause sickness, or even death, in humans and animals.

Several members of the nightshade family contain glucosides that may-
or may not be poisonous. As a general rule, fruits of the common potato,
bittersweet, henbane, jimson-weed, black nightshade, and wild tomato should
never be eaten as all contain toxic substances that may cause mild to severe
cases of poisoning. Likewise, the foliage of the plants contains the same
poisonous substances although usually in smaller amounts than found in the
fruit. The tubers of the common potato, after exposure to sunlight which
causes them to turn green, may be poisonous and should not be eaten by humans
or fed to livestock.

All dogbanes and milkweeds contain an acid, milky juice that may affect
certain individuals. Thus, these plants should be handled carefully lest the
sap enter a scratch or be rubbed into the eyes. At least one milkweed, rarely
found in Western Canada, causes cattle deaths when eaten in sufficient quanti-
ties, while the common milkweed may induce convulsions in cattle and sheep
if large amounts are consumed.

Leafy spurge, Euphorbia Esula L., which is becoming established as a weed
on cultivated land throughout Western Canada, contains an acid, milky juice
that causes blistering and inflammation after contact. These conditions may
affect both humans and livestock. Reports suggest that losses of cattle may
occur when hay containing large quantities of leafy spurge is fed.

The common scouring rushes, Equisetum spp, also known as horsetail, are
reported to cause livestock losses when fed in hay; horses apparently are more
susceptible than sheep or cattle. No known ill effects are caused by these
plants when they are pastured. In fact, stockmen report that sheep will seek
areas where horsetail is abundant and thrive on the feed.

Sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale L., is abundant around sloughs and
along watercourses and roadsides throughout Western Canada. Because it
is unpalatable and because it grows only where grasses and other forages are
producing heavily few, if any, reports are available of livestock losses caused
by this plant. However, it has poisonous properties and, if livestock are forced
by circumstances to eat it, loss of condition and death may occur.

Blue-green algaes, Cyanophyceae, form the so-called "scum" in sloughs,
lakes, streams, and water troughs. These cause disagreeable odors in the water
and reports state that livestock losses may occur when animals drink water
containing large amounts. Reports from the North Central States have stated
that sheep and cattle died after drinking at spots where wind had collected
large quantities of algae. Apparently natural populations of algae are not
sufficient to create toxic conditions, but wind action may cause the algae to
accumulate at a natural watering site. The poisonous factor has been charged
to both the entire plant and by-products of decomposition, particularly nitrates.

Western yellow pine, Pinus ponderosa, Dougl., is a recent addition to the
list of plants with ppisonous properties. Reports from British Columbia state
that its fresh needles and buds cause abortion in cows and the birth of weak
calves. It is recommended that bred cows be wintered in areas free of western
yellow pine.

Humans and animals vary greatly in their susceptibility to other plants
that may cause skin blisters, swellings, hay fever, and other annoying conditions.
Species of nettles, hops, smartweeds, ragweeds, and false ragweeds have
properties that may be classified as mildly to moderately poisonous. Although
few people and fewer animals will be affected severely by the toxic properties
of these plants, nevertheless it is wise for all to handle them carefully.

93159-2—2

10

Losses Caused by Common Cultivated Plants

Occasionally livestock losses are charged to eating cultivated forages.
Sorghum, flax, and oats on occasion may contain poisonous compounds. The
conditions producing their toxic qualities are discussed briefly.

Sorghum

During the past few years, sorghums have been tested and grown to a
limited extent on farms throughout southwestern Saskatchewan. The first
sorghum crop on one of these farms caused the deaths of three registered Short-
horn cattle. The crop in question had been cut for hay and its aftermath was
pastured.

When sorghums are frozen or stunted by drought, they produce varying
amounts of hydrocyanic acid (HCN), the same toxic principle that is produced
by arrowgrass and chokecherry. Losses may occur if the crop is pastured
immediately after a frost. In few cases will sorghum hay cause losses because
the acid disappears quickly as hay matures. However, on the basis of these
results, sorghum should not be pastured for seven to ten days following a
heavy frost.

Flax

Common flax can cause livestock poisoning. The poison produced is hydro-
cyanic acid, the same as that occurring in sorghum, arrowgrass, and choke-
cherry, and the same precautions should be followed as recommended for
sorghum. In general, the highest concentration of hydrocyanic acid is found
in frozen, immature bolls.

Nitrate or Oat Hay Poisoning

Occasionally animals are poisoned when fed oat hay which has a high
nitrate content. High nitrate content occurs also in a few weeds, and quite
often in well water. However, poisoning caused by the high nitrate content
in oat hay has become so common that the condition has been called "oat hay
poisoning." None of the other cereal hays has been charged with causing this
condition, nor have green oats used as pasture.

The first record of the condition was reported in Indiana in 1898, when
cattle were fed corn stover grown in a hog yard. The peculiar conditions of
the sickness were reported over many of the Western States and Canada during
subsequent years, but not until the mid-thirties was it shown that the sickness
was caused by high nitrate content of feed. It was established that the nitrate,
after being changed to nitrite in the rumen of cattle and sheep, entered the
blood where it prevented the haemoglobin of the blood from carrying oxygen
and thus animals died of suffocation. Concentrations of 1 • 5 per cent potassium
nitrate or saltpeter in cured feed are sufficient to cause death.

Livestock react in various ways. Some become listless and will stand for
a. time before lying down; others will push against their stalls or feeding racks
and show evidence of hypersensitivity. Nearly all will gnaw wood. At times
their pulse and respiration are normal, at other times extremely rapid, but as
death approaches both become slow and faint. The blood of poisoned animals
is a very dark brown.

Although feeds can be analyzed to determine their concentrations of nitrate,
there is no assurance that a feed containing nitrate will cause death at any
particular time. It appears that the condition of the animal itself will often
determine its susceptibility, and hay with a high concentration of nitrate might
be fed safely one day, while next week it could be toxic or lethal.

11

Intravenous injections of a four per cent solution of methylene blue in
water are recommended as an antidote, and approximately one ounce of the
solution per 300 pounds of live weight is suggested. A recent report from
South Africa shows that large amounts of saltpeter can be fed, or hay with
relatively high nitrate content can be used, provided molasses or another
supplement with a high sugar content is added to the ration.

Recently cattle deaths were charged to the high nitrate content of the
well water they were drinking. The Saskatchewan Department of Health has
demonstrated also that water from nitrate-polluted wells can cause deaths of
infants when the water is used in baby formulae. In view of these results, it
appears advisable to check old wells, particularly shallow wells adjacent to
barnyards, for their content of nitrate.

Bloat

Bloat, hoove, or hoven is a spectacular disease of cattle, sheep, and goats.
Its symptoms are shown by rapid swelling of paunch or rumen caused by above
average gas pressure; death often succeeds the stomach distention unless the
pressure is relieved. Despite its common occurrence for over 200 years, very
little more is known about its causes and remedies than when it was first
reported.

Bloat is more common on pasture than on dry feed, and more common on
pastures containing a large proportion of alfalfa or clover than on those pro-
ducing grasses only. Furthermore, it is more common on irrigated than on
dryland pasture. Although alfalfa and clovers may cause bloat more generally
than other crops, well-cured hay, grain, roots, grass, kale, and milk will cause
bloat under certain conditions.

Authorities agree generally that bloating is caused by an upset in the
mechanism to expel gas from the paunch, not by the quantity of gas produced.
Expulsion of gas by eructation or belching may be stopped by physical
obstructions in the esophagus or gullet, by the frothy mass in the paunch that
occurs with certain types of bloat, by ruminal paralysis, or by a large mass of
free gas collected in the paunch. The escape of gas from the paunch to the
gullet is made difficult by the anatomy of ruminants because the gullet enters
the paunch near its bottom and is usually below the top level of the mass of
digesting feed that it contains.

Many odd remedies have been recommended to cure the disorder, including
a pint of gin, tar in eggshells, and formaldehyde in ale. The common remedy
recommended today is a drench of two to four ounces of turpentine, ginger,
and capsicum in a half pint of milk or water. Formaldehyde and coal oil have
been used also, but both are more toxic than turpentine and should not be
used if the other is available. All severe cases should be paunched with a
trocar or a sharp knife, but relief will not be effected by this method unless
the main air bubble is tapped. In those cases where the paunch is filled with
a mass of frothy bubbles, the trocar by itself may be of little benefit. Under
such conditions the trocar opening can be enlarged to four or six inches with
a sharp, clean knife and the frothy mass scooped out. An injection of adrenalin
is recommended in those cases where bloating is not too severe. A veterinarian
should be consulted in all cases of bloat.

Prevention of bloat is probably impossible, although strongly growing
grasses in a grass-legume pasture help greatly to prevent the disorder. Reports
and observations indicate that bloat will seldom occur when the grasses are
taller than the legumes and when they provide at least 50 per cent of the
forage. A feed of well-cured hay is suggested also before placing livestock

93159-2— 2J

12

on lush pasture, although this is not a sure remedy. It is recommended also
that livestock be kept off pastures until the morning dew has disappeared, but
again animals have been known to bloat on dry pasture or feed.

A Potential Invader With Poisonous Characters

As information regarding the natural plant cover increases, it can be
expected that other plants will be added to the present list of those with
poisonous characters. The greatest concern will be with those that may invade
or be introduced, although native plants are not immune from suspicion.

There is a poison-containing weed growing in the Intermountain States
that might invade the rangelands of Canada. It is known as halogeton,
Halogeton glomeratus C. A. Mayer, it is poisonous to sheep and causes losses
amongst cattle. It is a native of Central Asia and was first reported in Nevada
in 1934. Today it is widespread through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho,
Colorado, California, and Montana, and infests an estimated 1,500,000 acres
of rangeland.

Halogeton is an annual resembling Russian thistle in size, appearance,
and growth habits. However, its leaves are shorter and rounder than those of
Russian thistle, and its seeds are not enclosed with spiny scales. Mature
halogeton plants are usually straw-colored, rather than dark brown like the
Russian thistle. It has been shown that the plant contains large quantities of
salts of oxalic acid, the same poisonous principle occurring in greasewood,
although there is no agreement that these compounds are the cause of death.

Recommended control consists of good range management where pastures
are in a healthy condition, and reseeding with suitable grasses where pastures
are depleted. Halogeton thrives on ground bare of perennial vegetation and
maintains or increases its stand on over-grazed range. It has been controlled
by applications of 2,4-D. There is no known medicinal remedy for poisoned
animals.

Because halogeton has already moved north from Nevada to Montana, it is
reasonable to presume that its northward extension will continue. Thus,
stockmen living near the International Boundary are advised to watch their
ranges for its appearance. The presence of any unusual plant should be
reported to District Agriculturists, Universities, or Experimental Stations.

Pasture Management in Relation to Poisonous Plants

There are several poisonous plants with a wide distribution, yet, with
the exception of deaths caused by death camas and the larkspurs, there are few
regular losses, or at least few reported losses. Whenever and wherever
spectacular losses caused by poisons occur amongst livestock, the cause is usually
associated with conditions that are abnormal. A few of these are discussed
below.

Over-grazing

Over-grazing causes the most desirable and valued forage species to
diminish in population and in size of indiviual plants. As this practice is con-
tinued, less palatable plants increase in abundance. Amongst those that
increase as the grasses decrease are death camas, milk vetches, crocus anemone,
several sages, annuals of the mustard family, cacti, and many others. These
include poisonous species which, because of greater population, will be eaten
to some extent. Losses amongst sheep on a ranch in southern Alberta were

13

traced to an increased population of death camas on over-grazed spring pasture.
Thus the maintenance of pasturage in a productive condition is one of the
principles to observe in the control of poisonous plants and the reduction of
livestock losses.

Date of Range Readiness

All pastures have a date on which they are ready for grazing in the spring.
Grazing too early, before the forage species have made much growth, is one
of the factors causing an over-grazed condition. It is seldom that native
pastures are protected until they are ready for use, and thus the earliest
growing species carry the grazing load. Amongst the earliest to show green
leaves are death camas, chokecherry, and greasewood in the plant associations
where they are constituents. Losses sustained by the Eastend Sheep Co-opera-
tive, Eastend, Sask., were traced to too early pasturing over ground infested
with death camas. The same condition caused poisoning in a herd of range
bulls — 4 out of 65 died before the operator moved them. Losses up to 10 lambs
per day were charged to chokecherry eaten on over-grazed spring pasture in
the Great Sandhills, but when the flock was moved to chokecherry-free pasture
the losses ceased.

Movement of Hungry Livestock

Movement of livestock at any season of the year, and particularly during
the spring and early summer, offers an opportunity for animals to graze
poisonous plants. One of the few recorded losses caused by arrowgrasses in
Western Canada was traced to the trailing of a band of sheep from one pasture
to another. The flock stopped for half an hour at the margin of a dry slough
infested with arrowgrass. Twenty-five lambs out of a flock of 600 ewes and
lambs died very quickly. When animals are being moved their grazing habits
are disturbed; they are hungry and are apt to eat large amounts of easily
available forage, and thus graze plants that they refuse in their home pastures.

Drought

Greater losses from poisonous plants may occur during drought. The
general lack of feed forces stock to eat any plant available. Losses chargeable
to selenium poisoning occurred following the drought during the mid-thirties.
On one ranch, where 30 cows died and over 100 were sick during the winter of
1937-38, the deaths were traced to a high selenium content in the winter
roughage. The feed was gathered from a cultivated field that had a heavy
stand of selenium-indicator plants and where the rye and Russian thistle crop
contained toxic amounts of selenium. In any seleniferous area, when drought
or other cause makes it necessary to feed poorer quality hay, it is advisable
for livestock producers to check closely on their winter feed supply and be
certain that the feed does not contain poisonous properties.

Irregular Occurrences

No particular reasons can be ascribed for the abundance of other poisonous
plants during certain years. Such is the case with the low larkspur. In any
year it may be abundant and losses can be traced to its prevalence, while
during succeeding years it may be relatively sparse and livestock losses are
rare. Good pasture management practices, removal of stock from infested
areas to those where lighter concentrations exist, and riding amongst the herds
to give attention to affected animals during the short larkspur season are
methods that are followed by stockmen to reduce losses.

14

Irregular occurrences of losses from poisonous plants are often caused by
livestock operators themselves. Over-grazing, lack of care during moving,
too early seasonal grazing, insufficient riding, as well as poor salting and fencing
practices, may be factors that add to livestock deaths. When the effects of
drought are added, new and more startling poison plant losses may occur even
under the best management practices. In such cases the assurance that feed
is free from poison principles is valuable; such can be secured by laboratory
tests to determine the content of some of the known plant poisons. However,
there is always the possibility that new diseases caused by plant poison and
deficiencies may develop under conditions of drought or over-grazing.

General Management

These regular or irregular losses caused by poor pasture management
might be extended. However, they account for most of the spectacular losses
from poison, and are the direct result of mismanagement and carelessness or
ignorance on the part of the livestock operator. The fact that losses from
poisonous plants are kept relatively low on ranches is a tribute to the careful
management that most ranchers practise. Where losses on pasture continue
year after year, the best courses open to a livestock operator are either to
move the stock to areas free of poison-containing plants or to provide cul-
tivated pasture during the season of particular need. An over-grazed pasture
is one where desirable forages are in short supply; early grazed pastures
likewise have insufficient palatable feed to meet animal needs. One solution
of the feed problem under these conditions is to cultivate selected areas of
native pasture and reseed with suitable pasture species.

Control of Poisonous Plants

Control of poisonous plants by methods other than pasture management
has not been practised widely. Grubbing is practical to eradicate water
hemlock and tall larkspur, and their control is achieved by this method on
some ranches and in PFRA community pastures. However, all other species
have such a wide distribution and a varied habitat that grubbing is impractical.
Where death camas and low larkspur are troublesome, the best and most
efficient method of eradication is by cultivation followed by reseeding of
grasses suitable to the soil and climatic conditions. Although the cultivation
of extensive range areas to develop a summer pasture may not be warranted,
nevertheless cultivation and reseeding of selected areas for spring pasture is
not only practical but is being done by many farmers and ranchers. Usually
this practice is followed in order to increase feed supplies during certain
seasons of the year, but it is equally valuable to provide range free of poison
plants.

Only a small amount of work has been attempted in Western Canada
with herbicides for poison plant control. Because the native sward is a complex
mixture of forages and weeds, and because many herbs and shrubs are valuable
forage plants, heavy feed losses may be sustained by using herbicides. Two
years after treating death camas sites with Atlacide at the Dominion Range
Experiment Station, Manyberries, Alta., it was found that few grasses had
re-established themselves, that the camas were abundant, and that cactus had
invaded the plots. Work currently under way with 2,4-D preparations indi-
cates that applications heavy enough to kill pasture weeds affect the seed
setting of native grasses and reduce the populations of certain broadleaved
palatable plants.

15
Summary

There are a few points that need to be emphasized. These are:

1 . Of the 60 or so poisonous plants collected, only 12 to 15 are abundant
and have a widespread distribution.

2 . Many of the plants that are abundant have a short growing season.

3 . Poor pasture management practices, including very early spring grazing,
carelessness during moving from one pasture to another, and over-
grazing, are responsible in part for losses that occur.

4. Losses may increase during periods of drought because poorer quality
feeds are eaten, both as pasture and as roughage.

5. Eradication of many poisonous plants is possible, although no one
method is applicable to all species.

6. Good pasture management, based on a knowledge of the growth habits
of the different species, is effective in reducing losses.

When poisonous plants kill livestock, it can be expected that other animals
in the flock or herd will be affected to some degree. It is p6ssible to count
deaths, but it is difficult to measure losses due to chronic conditions. Good
pasture management will reduce the number of deaths and maintain livestock
in a thrifty condition.

16

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CHOKE CHERRY

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TWO -GROOVED

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WATER

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O \q rr> r)o\ cV) oxpbered ,

31

CAL/BCA OTTAWA K1 A 0C5

3 9073 00158246 1

First Published March 1953

Revised June 1956

Reprinted March 1961

Copies of this Publication may be
obtained from:

Information Division

Canada Department of Agriculture

Ottawa, Ontario

Roger Duhamel, f.r.s.c.

Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery

Ottawa, 1961

Cat. No. A53-900