momma and Dad have had trouble buyinggood haythis year . They in the end bring forth somebig balesfrom a man they bought hay from last class . The problem is that some of the hay is fescue , and my pregnant girlfriend , Katy , should n’t eat it .
Mom says fescue is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of grass crops . Tall fescue grass ( Festuca arundinacea ) is one of America ’s most wide used grass — it is hardy , generative and insect resistant , tolerates pitiful soil and climatic conditions very well , and has a retentive growing time of year . Plus , it ’s been around a longsighted time ! Tall fescue grass came to the United States from Europe in the late 1800s . It flourish as a barbaric plant and was formally come across in Kentucky in 1931 , then released in 1943 as Kentucky 31 Fescue . It was a big hit with Farmer and spread quickly throughout the Midwest and South .
But there ’s a huge downside to fescue , too . Much of the tall fescue grass grown in North America is infected with a fungous endophyte that produces ergot - similar alkaloids that are toxic to brute . The seeded player head is the most toxic part of the plant . perniciousness is peculiarly crush when pregnant farm animal graze tall fescue during the last trimester of their pregnancies .
Each grazing species reacts slimly differently to fescue toxosis . Multiple studies show that usance of endophyte - infect marvelous fescue decreases the feed intake ofcattleand lowers their weight unit gain . They also produce less Milk River and have higher internal physical structure temperatures and respiration rates . Many have a rough hair coating , drool excessively and experience multiple reproductive problems . Tall fescue fertilized with eminent level of N can also lead to bovine fat gangrene , a condition that causes digestive problems and can intervene with calving as knockout multitude come along in the fat person tissue surrounding the intestines .
Maresandjenniesgrazing endophyte - infect tall meadow fescue experience reproductive problem , such as late - condition abortions and stillborn foal , extended gestation , foaling difficulties due to badly put foals , thickened or retained placentas , laminitis ( beginner ) , poor conception rates and agalactosis ( the belittle ability to farm Milk River ) . foal born live are ofttimes larger than normal and have wretched nurseling instinctive reflex , deficiency of coordination and lour consistency temperatures . foal may also have inadequate immunity due to their mother ’ lack of foremilk production . Because equines are peculiarly raw to the toxins in endophyte - infected marvelous fescue , even the lowest levels of endophyte can produce equine fescue grass toxicosis .
Ewes , does , and femalellamas and alpacaswith meadow fescue toxosis pass lamb and kidding due date by up to 10 mean solar day . When they do go into childbed , their cervixes might not dilate , contraction are often weak and issue might be too large to be hand over without help . remarkably buddy-buddy umbilical cords are hard to smash , and placentas can be so thick that the young ca n’t get out unless someone tears them unfastened .
Cattle , Capricorn the Goat and sheep are also prostrate to fescue human foot , a case of dry necrosis that causes component of the hoof and tail to rot and decrease off .
Sound scary ? It is ! Yet fescue is so well established in the United States , especially the Midwest and parts of the South , that unless it ’s on purpose killed out , most grassland and hayfields contain at least some fescue . uproot ultra - intrepid fescue is n’t prosperous , nor is replacing it with Modern , improved endophyte - innocent Festuca elatior . The endophyte actually contribute to fescue ’s hardiness , so endophyte - free varies often go to thrive .
If you live where fescue grows , assume it ’s in your pastures and probably in the gage hay you buy . So what do you do if you have significant stock ? The best affair is polish off tardy - term pregnant females to a ironical lot and bung hay known to be fescue - barren — that ’s what we ’re doing with Katy . Some hay dealers and feed computer memory sell guaranteed fescue - free weed hay for just this ground . Feeding baled or bagged Medicago sativa workplace , too .
