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Get Professional Advice When any type of poisoning occurs of your livestock, do not guess. Get the help of a veterinarian promptly. Many of the poisonings of livestock may have similar symptoms. In some cases there may be more than one poison in a plant. The best example of this is forage sorghum. It may contain eight high levels of nitrate or prussic acid. In some cases, I suspect both may occur at the same time. The following comments are not meant to allow the reader to make a diagnosis of either of these maladies, but the intent is to provide information about the nature of the problem. Prussic Acid (Cyanide) Poisoning Here are some notes from the Merck. Manual 7th edition. Prussic acid is a cyanide producing organic compound found in many plants. It is probably a natural protector of the plant. If consumed by cattle and sheep in excess the animals die from cyanide poisoning. Cyanide poisoning can come from sources, both plants and chemicals. The most common is the poisoning that occurs from sorghum plants and Sudan grass. It concentrates in the leaves and not the stems. Therefore new shoots from early growing plants or re-growth after a freeze may contain a high level of prussic acid. Heavy fertilization can lead to increased prussic acid formation. Drought stricken plants containing mostly leaves are slow to decrease their prussic acid content. These plants are a prime cause of prussic acid (cyanide) poisoning. Signs of Prussic Acid Toxicity Prussic acid and resulting cyanide toxicity causes early signs of excitement, fast breathing, excessive mouth and eye watering. The animals may struggle and stagger before collapse. The tissues around the eyes and other membranes will be cherry red. The blood will be cherry red also, but the blood may be dark just before death. But in comparison, nitrate toxicity causes dark brown blood. Nitrate/Nitrate Toxicity Ruminant animals are the most susceptible to nitrate toxicity and death because the rumen changes the nitrate to nitrite, then to ammonia and then to protein. If the rumen is working well and the system is not flooded with a feed that is very high in nitrate, cattle will change the nitrate to protein. CAUTION: Therefore make sure that cattle are "filled-up" on a starter feed or a feed low in nitrates before turning them to a pasture with sorghum feed or feeding a suspicious sorghum hay. Nitrates may accumulate in corn and sorghum plants during a prolonged damp, cloudy period. The silage process changes the nitrate to bacterial protein in the silo so the problem is reduced unless the silage is a major part of the ration. When the problem occurs it is usually acute. Cattle have difficulty breathing, their blood turns brown, and the animals die from lack of oxygen. However animals will usually adapt to nitrates in feeds. Feed Testing is Easy But Takes Time Testing for nitrates in feeds in easy and economical. But the problem is to test a suspicious feed before the problem starts. Quite often the animals die before the feed is tested. Get a representative sample from several sources of the feed. Do not rely on only one sample. Get at least three sub-samples. The Vet Needs to Know History When a toxicity or death loss occurs, your veterinarians will ask important questions about the feeds, the feeding or pasturing program. A feed analysis, if available, will be important information. The diagnosis of toxic animals will be critical to determine the difference between prussic acid poisoning or nitrate toxicity. Therefore a veterinarian is needed to make sure which poison is causing the problem. |
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