Toxic Pastures, Weeds and Chemicals

Abstract

I am going to hit some things that are of interest to me and some of them may be of use to you; some may seem a little bit provincial.

The first consideration about poisonings is the possibility of one being present. In acute poisoning, whether it is plant or chemical, the first tip-off, of course, is single or multiple death and illnesses that are unaccounted for. In just a matter of a few days you will have several animals involved and you cannot account for it for other reasons.

The next thing that I think is equally important, and you should start inquiring about it right away, is what change of management occurred? Has the feed been changed? Was the pasture changed? Was there something done about spraying recently? Handling is the next thing to be encountered or to investigate. Well, aside from these two basic principles, I think the only other thing to go on is a nagging suspicion that this can be a poisoning, and usually that is the way we end up; anyway, at least I do! The chronic type of poisoning is a little different problem. Luckily, for most chronic poisonings you have tissue changes that are suggestive—kidney damage related to mercury intake or liver damage related to some of the other damaging toxic agents.