Tifton 85 grass suspected of causing cattle deaths in Texas?

[greybeard]

I've been reading reports that some central Texas cattle are dying from eating Tifton 85 recently, cause unknown-- altho cyanide gas seems to be suspect at this time.

I personally believe there will likely be a bit more to this than just the forage itself once all the testing and other factors are considered, as T-85 has been around a long time and has yeilded good results.

I don't believe everything in this report is 100% accurate (a hybrid-yes--GM?--I don't think so), but here's the gist of it:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57459357/gm-grass-linked-to-texas-cattle-deaths/

Just what cattle producers need. Army worms in the North and a reportedly toxic forage in the SW.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

This was posted on another cattle forum, folks on there say it's just "poor reporting" and fear-mongering, particularly since it's a GM grass. All this fear-mongering about GMO's and people don't realize that it's way more difficult to find something that's not genetically modified these days, artificially or naturally!!

 

[WildRoseBeef]

From the Producer's Cooperative Association, Bryan TX Facebook page:

A PSA for today...just got [an] e-mail from Dr. Larry Redmon, Forage Extension Specialist for TAMU/Agrilife Extension. He is reporting on a case of prussic acid poisoning and deaths of 15 Corriente roping calves grazing Tifton 85 bermuda on a ranch in the Bastrop area. We generally associate prussic acid poisoning with sorgrum sudan grasses and never with bermuda or bermuda hybrids. However, post-mortems, rumen analysis and repeated forage analysis has concluded that the culprit is indeed prussic acid. Tifton 85 bermudagrass was released from the USDA-ARS station at Tifton, GA in 1992 by Dr. Glenn Burton.

In the case of the Bastrop cattle, these were roping calves that had been at an event. Qutoing Dr. Redmon here: "The pasture where the cattle died had been severely drought stressed from last year's unprecedented drought, and had Prowl H2O applied during the dormant season, a small amount of fertilizer applied in mid to late April, received approximately 5" of precipitation within the previous 30 days, and was at a hay harvest stage of growth. Thus, the pasture did not fit the typical young flush of growth following a drought-ending rain or young growth following a frost we typically associate with prussic acid formation.

The cattle were stressed, hungry, and thirsty when they had finished roping for the evening; this is obviously not the ideal condition for cattle to be in when turned into a pasture that had not been grazed this season. However, this is not the answer to the problem. There is, although it appears to be an isolated event, prussic acid potential, and therefore potential for cattle death when grazing Tifton 85 bermudagrass.

Continuing to quote Dr. Redmon, "Some private individuals are beginning to issue their own notices at sale barns. This is not the type of announcement our producers need as all this does is alarm people and not inform them, so we plan to issue a news release in the near future explaining essentially what I have described in this message. BUT, I wanted you to know before the news release was issued. In fact, you will receive the news release first before we go to Ag Communications for public distribution.

What we wish to do is to advise, but not alarm those who currently have Tifton 85 pastures. Here are some important points for producers to consider:

1) Never turn hungry, stressed animals into a new pasture; allow them to fill on hay or in a familiar pasture first.

2) When turning cattle into a field of Tifton 85, pay close attention for the first hour or so to ensure cattle will not be in distress. If in doubt, obtain a fresh forage sample from the upper 1/3 of the canopy, place in a ziplock bag on ice, and get to the vet diagnostic lab immediately for analysis.

3) Make sure any Tifton 85 forage harvested for hay is properly field-cured before baling.

4) If producers currently have cattle on Tifton 85 pastures, it is unlikely they will experience problems.

5) Have producers report any unusual deaths to you (to obtain forage samples) and the local vet.

6) Tifton 85 bermudagrass still has the highest level of drought tolerance of all bermudagrass varieties and the highest level of animal performance of all warm-season perennial grasses.

Again, this situation has never been reported and the incident in Bastrop County is an isolated event...so far. I just wanted each of you to know about the situation so you would not be blindsided if someone in the county was to ask the question "What is this I hear about Tifton 85 bermudagrass..."

It's really too bad that the general public, especially those who are either ignorant about agriculture or so far removed from the farm they don't know nothing about what goes on beyond the streetlamps, are getting so riled up about some misinformation and bad reporting. This is going to cause unnecessary panic if some actually accurate details about this incident aren't released soon!!!

 

[greybeard]

Especially considering T85 is NOT GM grass anymore than yu and I are. It's a cross between several other species ans strains of bermuda, just as my Beefmasters are a cross between other breeds pf cattle, but man, those GM grass headlines sure are nice and sensationalistic aren't they?
Thanks for the article.

 

[greybeard]

CBS finally corrected the story--3 days after the damage was done.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57459975/grass-tied-to-texas-cattle-deaths-hybrid-not-gm/

(CBS News) The recent deaths of 15 head of cattle in Bastrop County have been linked to the grass in the field where they were grazing, which tests indicated produced cyanide gas.


The findings were first reported by CBS Station KEYE in Austin.


Federal officials are investigating whether a random mutation of the grass variety was responsible.


However, it was incorrectly reported that the grass the cows ingested - a form of Bermuda grass known as Tifton 85 - was a genetically modified organism.


In fact, Tifton 85 is a hybrid, not a GM organism.


Hybrids are plants in which horticulturalists have crossed varieties of two or more plants in order to cultivate the most desirable characteristics of each, a process which has been used by farmers for centuries.


According to the Georgia Seed Development Commission, Tifton 85 is a Bermuda grass hybrid developed in the mid-1980s as a hay grass that could withstand cold temperatures.


It was a grass which Elgin, Texas rancher Jerry Abel has used for 15 years without incident, until several of his herd died.


An official at the Department of Agriculture told CBS News that there are currently no genetically modified grasses on the market or bring grown for public use or consumption.

2012 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

UBB annotations mine.