Is Johnson Grass Hay safe???

[texaschick-a-dee]

Johnson grass hay is the most common type of hay in our area. Like any hay as long as it's good quality it will not kill your livestock. I have had goats bloat from eating large quantities of green johnson grass but have never had a problem with hay. My chickens love to scratch around in it.

 

[jkl79]

Thank you for your note - that makes me feel a lot better. We are very new to owning livestock and I'm freaking out that we might have poisoned our new little cows and donkeys. It does sound like it will be fine - and the hay is well dried and not moldy. I'll definitely keep an eye on it, but it seems to be pretty common.

 

[pattypenny]

Negative aspects of johnsongrass
Johnsongrass is on the noxious weed list in several U.S. states (and has even made the list of the 10 most noxious weeds in the world. Johnsongrass can accumulate nitrates during the summer if exposed to several dry, cloudy days in a row. It can also produce prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) after stressful conditions such as drought, freezing weather or exposure to a herbicide that kills grasses. If your johnsongrass is subjected to any of these conditions, keep cattle away for about a week to allow the prussic acid to dissipate.
This prussi acid often happens if the grass is hit by a frost in the spring.
The gas forms in the gut of the animal and will kill under these conditions. If the animal isn't treated soon after it goes down it will die.
A vet. can treat the animal but usually it is to late by the time he arrives.
I have seen my father and my uncle have 10 steers down on Johnson grass and they took a knife and stabbed the animals in the stomack as they lay on their side. the gas came out and the animals lived.

 

[jkl79]

was that from heating johnson grass hay or the green grass? I only have it in the dried, hay form, none of it on the land, so I'm wondering if the johnson hay is dangerous.

 

[Florida chick]

It can be dangerous, IF its exposed to the conditions prior to haying. I wouldn't be certain the hay farmer was going to lose an entire crop and not bale and sell it if he had a very cloudy days.

 

[pattypenny]

the acid forms on green johnson grass in the spring if hit by frost. the grass is ok if dried and in bails.
The grass grows in the pasture along the creeks in our area in the spring and these pastures in the low lands are hit by late frosts. My father kept his cattle fenced away from our creek pastures until all danger of frost was past but the time the steers broke the fence they did get down and would have died except for dad's pocket knife. You could hear the gas whistle as it came out of the animal.
Just in front of a cow's hip there is a soft place shaped like a triangle and this is where daddy plunged his knife.
The animals suffered no bad effect from the knife wound but don't go sticking knives in animals unless they are down and can't get on their feet and have been eating green johnson grass hit by frost.
I know another thing dad did for his cattle. Some times after a cow calves she would get milk fever, this was the calcium level was drained from her body after the birth. the cow would get down and would not get up.
If a vet. was near he would come and give her shots of calcium in the vein but I have seen my father take a tire pump and a hollow needle and pump air into the tit of the cow and she would get up and live . I don't know why this worked but it did.

 

[waldeneffect]

We've noticed our chickens like to eat down a patch of Johnson grass we have in one of their pastures.

After about two weeks it's grown back enough for them to feast again.

Here's a blog post on the subject.

http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Johnson_grass_for_chickens/

 

[oldrooster]

Wow a zombie thread that's what is considered a weed around my parts