The Curious Case of the Poisoned Cows

[Melissa G]

1. Wow! That's amazing.

I think we had some cases of this during another previous drought. I forget this when I pick up a blade of grass and think of chewing on it in the summer...

The part of the article that really articulates the core of the piece is below:

As we all know, Texas is in the midst of a sustained and destructive drought. And as it turns out, there’s quite a bit of research showing that forage grasses can become surprisingly poisonous when they are stressed by heat and drought. To that end, I refer you to this article from the University of Wyoming titled, “Managing Forages to Minimize Prussic Acid Poisoning.” Or “Livestock and Prussic Acid Poisoning” from Ohio State University. Or “Preventing Prussic Acid Poisoning of Livestock” from Oregon State University. And as it also turns out, the Tifton 85 grass in Mr. Abel’s field is a hybrid of Bermuda grass and star grass. And star grass is one of those cyanogenic plant species we’ve just been discussing.