HERDS POISONED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 46, 22 January 1938, Page 4

HERDS POISONED

SUDAN GRASS BLAMED. SYDNEY. Jan. 14. Another serious loss of dairy cows through eating Sudan grass emphasises that this valuable introduction from North Africa has, under certain conditions, a lethal content of prussic acid. A report from Wugga states that 14 valuable cows, the property of Mr E. A. Beer, of Wagga, died yesterday as a result of eating a Becond growth _of the grass in a paddock about four miles from the town. The paddock carried very little Sudan grass. A heard of 54 cows was depastured there. After milking, 14 were found dead within a small area, and three others were in a serious condition. Recently, Mr Sempler lost six cows on a Sudan grass paddock, and another farmer lost a bull and four cows. Altogether 14 herds in the district have been affected. Some of the mortality, it is stated, has been due to the prussic acid content in the new growth of Sudan grass, after feeding-off by stock or depredations by grasshoppers. Another serious loss was reported yes terday from Wodonga, where 15 out of 70 cows were lost owing to the animals eating the grass ravenously. The Department of Agriculture has repeatedly warned dairy farmers that the plant may at times be poisonous," but it is stressed that this fact should no more prevent farmers growing it than it stops them sowing sorghum, to which it is closely related. A few simple precautions will prevent loss. , . The grass is most likely to be harmlu to cattle when immature or stunted through drought If cattle are on the grass,, care should be taken that at first they are only left there for a short time. When cut and dried it is very unlikely to be harmful. So far as prussic acid content is concerned, the Sudan grass may safely be grazed by horses or pigs, and it is unlikely to be as dangerous to sheep as to cattle. It is only on isolated occasions that sufficient prussic acid is present to make the grass poisonous.