Johnsn Grass - What do you know about it?

[mizbeth]

I am curious if any of you have had experience, or knowledge of pastures that have Johnson grass in them. I am referring to grazing horses on it. I understand that it can be toxic at times especially to cattle. Is this the same for horses?

Thanks...

 

[Charlotte]

I've not had any experience with Jhonson grass except some occasionally turning up in baled hay. I believe Johnson grass can be very high nitrate like annual rye grass. The high nitrates can cause fetal deformaties in preg mares and my vet has told me of posting horses that died suddenly and finding the death to be the result of high nitrate levels.

I think it might be wise to not use pastures with a lot of johnson grass.

Charlotte

 

[cretahillsgal]

We get lots of Johnson grass around here. When it gets hot and is stressed as a mature plant it produces toxins that can be deadly within a few minutes. I once saw a farmer turn his cattle out onto a field with some Johnson grass and noticed the cows start to drop within about 30 minutes. Luckily we were still around and he gathered up the rest of the cows and only ended up losing 3.

It is fine when the animals eat it when it is a young plant and not stressed by heat.

 

[MBennettp]

We have always had some Johnson grass in our pastures. We have never had a problem with it. When it is dangerous is when it gets mature. We keep it mowed.

I did get some hay one time that had a lot of mature Johnson grass in it that made one of my big horses sick. I now buy hay from a reputable guy that makes sure there is no mature Johnson grass in it.

I hope this helps answer your question.

Mary

 

[Margo_C-T]

Johnson grass is considered a 'weed'--a pest plant, if you will. It can be dangerous when 'stressed' by a hard freeze also; there was quite a bit of it along the ditch banks where I used to live, and it was widely known to keep grazing animals OFF of it for a minimum of two weeks following such a freeze.

There was an article on nitrate/nitrite poisoning in an online article on "The Horse.com" Nutrition letter just this AM. It mentioned Johnson grass as one of the 'nitrate-accumulating' weeds, and also stated that cattle are much more susceptible to nitrate poisoning than are horses. Some ways to avoid nitrate/nitrite poisoning were listed; they included avoiding overfertilizing w/ nitrate fertilizers, not feeding hay grown where there'd been a fertilizer spill(and thoroughly cleaning up any such spill!), not using a tank to haul water that'd previously been used for liquid fertilizer, even if it'd been washed, not baling hay wet, or allowing it to get wet once baled, and not feeding wet or moldy hay(a big 'DUH' to me!)--among other points. Danger of fetal abnormalities was not mentioned, but abortion was.

I do know I'd not want to graze a pasture with much if any mature Johnson grass, and if some were there, I'd surely stay off the pasture during periods of possible heat OR frost stress! We used to keep the horses completely 'up' for two weeks after the first real frost in my previous home, and we only had a bit of Johnson grass along the neighbor's ditch(we kept OUR ditch sprayed and free of it.)

Margo

 

[mizbeth]

Thank you so much for your input. I do have a good bit of johnson grass in my pastures and had it cut about 1.5 months ago, it was very tall before I put my mares on it. I pulled the mares up before the hard freeze last week, but was curious about whether or not to turn them back out in it. I knew to wait 7-10 days in any case, but as the time is getting closer to two weeks and near time to turn them back out, something "inside" is telling me to do additional research on this. I would HATE to loose a mare (s)over this.

I had not heard of abortions or deformaties but it does make sense to me. It could certainly cause the mares not to bag up when foaling time comes-similar to fescue.

I am pretty sure I won't be turning them back out there, since this "voice inside" is telling me not too and of course your input is very important to me.

I do appreciate so much your sharing this. I was always concerned with buying hay that had johnson grass it, especially when you do not know when it was baled, (during stressful times). So many folks around here say there is not a problem grazing horses on johnson grass pastures, they even bale it for cattle they tell me