Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Milkweed Poison 
Name: eddie
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Is Milkweed, fatal to mature beef cows? Hay was round baled in June and does contain milkweed. We switched them to Alfalfa today.


Replies:
Dear Eddie,

Looks like it could be.
See:
http://wwwtvmdl.tamu.edu/bulletin.htm
Region: Central Texas
Posted: December 23, 1998
Horsetail milkweed toxicity in a horse:
"A 7-year-old gelding was anorectic for 8 hrs prior to acute onset of ataxia. A stable mate had died 24 hrs previously. Evaluation of the stable environment revealed a plant other than alfalfa present in the hay left in the feed box. The hay trash was submitted for plant identification, along with reflux from the gelding. Both contained fragments of horsetail milkweed (Asclepias subverticillata) also called western worled milkweed, which contains a neurotoxic cardenolide ( pregnane glycoside)"
also
http://users.ids.net/~18james/rural/past.html
http://aria.arizona.edu/courses/arl642/cochise98/sonora/appendix.html

Sincerely,

Anthony R. Brach


Click here to return to the Biology Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory