Hedge apples can kill a cow

[kansasdexters]

We lost a 3-year old cow yesterday - she had a hedge apple stuck in her esophagus that prevented her from swallowing or burping. She bloated and died before we found her.

Here is what they look like: hedgeapple.com/

Because of the severe drought we're having, the Osage Orange (aka, Hedge Apple) trees are dropping their hard, green balls several weeks early this year. The hedge balls are also smaller this year, just the right size to get stuck when a cow or steer tries to swallow them.

If you have Hedge Apple trees in your pastures or windbreaks, be on the alert when the hedge apples fall to the ground -- these hard green fruits can represent a terrible danger to all our cattle. If you can, either move the cattle to safer pasture areas, or pick up the balls, or put in temporary fencing to keep the cattle away from these until after the first frost. After these hedge balls freeze, they soften and can be safely eaten.

Normally we would have cool season grasses growing well in the Fall and the cattle would not be so tempted to even eat the hedge apples. However, this year, with the drought, we are feeding hay, and the hedge apples are enticing as dangerous, green food.

Patti

[Gorignak]

Lesson learned....."hedge" is a most wonderful wood, and the main component of a "natural" barrier system. We are sprouting and planting them as fast as we can.

I owe you one...sorry for the loss....and THANKS for the heads up. I am not going to change course, we will try them for difficult to fence areas, along with Japonica, multiflora rose and greenbriars..... BUT the warning will be remembered by me and the next generation....

NOW....how about wilted cherry leaves ? Locals say they are deadly in a drought like this....i have jillions of small Black Cherry trees. The birds spread them everywhere.

THANKS

[midhilldexters]

That's an awful loss Patti, so sorry for you and Clay. Thanks for the warning.

Mike,
my cows eat the leaves from cherry trees with no ill effect, however when a branch comes down, watch out, I nearly lost 2 pigs from them eating leaves from a branch that landed in their pen.

Carol K

[dexterfarm]

yes black cherry contains trace amounts of cyanide. Usually not an issue. it does concentrate in the berrys when they ferment. and can also be in the leaves. We have some cherry trees. The cows keep them trimmed up in the spring so by the time the fruit comes on there is not much that they can reach. It is not highly poisonous so under normal conditions they would not consume enough to be a problem but it is possible. especially hungry cows going to a fresh area might over eat.

[theburrowfarm]

My sister lost her most prized quarter horse to wild cherry leaves after a storm.

[Gorignak]

EEEEEEkkkk.....another (sub)urban legend that's true. If only leaf lettuce DID have opiates in the leaves.

.... well, I'm gonna' see if those Jimson weed seeds really can make you crazy..........

Okay........DON'T try that one without an adult around....a real adult.

Boy, It IS a Jungle out there.....Thanks for the info....and, I do know how deadly Jimson weed is....I like it for keeping the deer away from some of our unfenced gardens.

Gotta go....I have some cherry trees to slay....!!!!

[legendrockranch]

Sorry for you loss Patti.

I remember seeing those Osage Oranges when we lived In Kansas. In fact when we first moved there I thought they were grapefruit trees
Thankfully we don't have them here. The only thing I worry about is acorns. In the pasture the cattle don't bother with them.
When we bring the cows in for calving I'm out there with a rake gathering them all up.

Barb

[Gorignak]

ACORNS !!!! Why? Bad??? AAARRRRGGGGHHHH.............

[lavacaw]

Barb, I am not that far from you and I have one on my place and have seen others here in Lavaca county. We call them Bois d' arc (bodark) or horseapples and they grow all over south Texas.

[legendrockranch]

Mike, I'm sure we're scaring you to death with all the possibilities of what can kill a cow. Below are a couple of links
about acorn poisoning.

www.thecattlesite.com/diseaseinfo/195/acorn-poisoning

www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/INF-BE_cca/INF-BE_cca01/INF-BE_cca0101.html.

We have poisonous plants in our pastures along with the acorns and who knows what other deadly things. Cattle for the most part will only eat those things if there is nothing else to eat. That's when you run into problems. At least from what I have seen.

Lavacaw, a few months ago we were driving north on hwy 281, I could have swore I saw a Osage Orange along side the freeway, in fact I pointed it out to hubby. What you're saying now confirms it. Thanks

[Olga]

Mike, my cows and horses have always enjoyed acorns, never with ill effects. We have lots of oak trees here, all different types.

[Gorignak]

Bring it on !!! And I do mean all of it. I would have ignored the acorns.Like any "farmer", my time and mental energy is in short supply. I would not have even questioned acorns. THANKS for that one....because, I could be in a situation that would cause the problem described in the links !!!! AGAIN, THANKS.

My experience with acorns is pretty solid.....40 years of noticing their patterns.
Red oak acorns take 2 years to mature...so they are on a boom/bust cycle. Most trees in the woods will cycle on the same schedule....BOOM....There are always outliers...like cicadas.... so there will be SOME every year, usually.
Red oak acorns are the least desirable to animals. They are larger, with a larger and more tenacious cap, and FAR MORE ASTRINGENT than white oak acorns. The tannins in red oak acorns is very high. These are the acorns to watch for poisoning.

White Oak acorns are GENERALLY....smaller, thinner skinned, cap breaks off easily, meatier, and SWEETER. I have killed deer that had a gut with A HALF A WASHTUB of acorns in it...ALL WHITE OAK. Indians would consume white oak acorns. There are acorns every year from MOST of the healthy white oak trees......BUT, they boom/bust with the weather.
BY THE WAY....running a bulldozer teaches a lot about trees.....red oaks are shallower rooted and easier to dislodge. White oak trees have a larger root ball that has more downward penetrating roots. Red oaks do well in shallow rich soil. White oaks thrive where the soil is more compacted and less fertile.

The PREMIUM acorn is POST OAK which is a type of White oak..... we easily kill 5-10 deer every year in a woods that has scattered post oaks.....a small skiff of snow reveals a deer highway that connects all the post oaks. Post Oak acorns are much smaller and MUCH sweeter. Turkeys adore them, and the turkeys follow the same highway to each tree.

SO....I am in a position to benefit greatly from your information. it would not take much for the stars to line up and I would have acorns as the premier food source on the farm....My woods that are being converted to pasture are covered with mostly white oaks, a scattering of red oak, and a nice sprinkling of post oaks. We are selecting for the post oaks. And we are leaving lots of the deep rooting black gum trees. They get covered with a small fleshy seed/berry that birds adore. They also will survive during periods when other trees are stressed.

We are running small pigs...Vietnamese Pot Belly and Julianas, on the same pasture as the Dexters. The pigs will level the field with acorns...they will not even come to corn when the acorns begin to fall....I will work out a balance and post on our success and failures.

Keep a library of those links for those of us just starting....THANKS

[aislinnmeadows]

Patti,
I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for the warning!
We have Bodark trees scattered all over our pastures. I thought
they were just a nuisance, but after reading what they can
do to our cows. Yikes! I will be gathering up those fruit tomorrow!

Under a controlled environment, it sounds like there are
some benefits in having a few Bodarks, ( Osage orange).
A lot of good information.

Thanks, Susan