www.ruralheritage.com/vet_clinic/fescue.htm
I recently sold three in-foal mares. One had a beautiful colt, pretty much on time perfectly healthy, one is just coming due, and one had a red bag about 10 days before her due date. The vet diagnosed it as fescue toxicity, and the client complained. However, I had 12 other pregnant mares who received exactly the same pasture, hay and diet, and have had NONE of the symptoms. I do not buy fescue hay. We do not have fescue in our pastures - to our knowledge, certainly no predominance of it, we have NEVER planted any. It's possible a few birds have dropped a few seeds, it's tough to examine 22 or so acres of pasture. Red bag has so many other causes, it was kind of insulting for the vet to just declare toxicity. The mare had a milk bag, etc. But the point is NONE of the other mares had any kind of problems. Anyone out there have any experience with, or opinions on this?
A very good article on fescue toxicity
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster, madelyn
A very good article on fescue toxicity
Last edited by madelyn on Fri May 23, 2008 8:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
So Run for the Roses, as fast as you can.....
In 2006 we had two QH foals from mares which lived together in the same pasture. One was a red bag delivery, the other was normal. The mare which delivered normally has delivered three other foals normally as well. Other mares have also lived in this pasture over the years and delivered without problem. This history certainly suggests in my case the pasture was not the problem.
Chuck
Chuck
-
Strategic Maneuver
- Starters Handicap
- Posts: 608
- Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:09 pm
- Location: Texas
Strange but I had the same experience this year also. Sent four mares to stud farm to foal out and be bred back. First mare delivered on time, no milk and foal had septecemia. Lost foal (not from septecemia) and vet said possibly fescue toxicity. Next mare delivered 30 days early and red bag. Lost foal. Third mare delivered on time, no probs. til foal got kicked in head and died. Fourth mare delivered on time, normal colt. All mares were in same pastures here, same everything. Vet and stud farm said I had a fescue problem. I got an A&M phd. to come look at all pastures since we grow and bale all our own hay. He couldn't find any fescue. Stud farm was fantastic and bred all mares back for free. The only thing we could come up with was something came in on my last shipment of alfalfa and had none left to test. I'm still scratching my head.
-
Mood Swings
- Grade II Winner
- Posts: 1473
- Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2006 6:23 am
- Location: Ontario, Canada
SM - how awful 
I hope you never have to experience something like that ever again!
Madelyn - I have heard that fescue causes a prolonged gestation. I would suspect that the mare you sold had placentitis if she had a red bag and delivered prematurly. JMO though.
I hope you never have to experience something like that ever again!
Madelyn - I have heard that fescue causes a prolonged gestation. I would suspect that the mare you sold had placentitis if she had a red bag and delivered prematurly. JMO though.
"People come and go but horses leave hoofprints on your heart"
All mares do not respond to fescue the same way. Neither do cows.
Most cows can handle fescue, some can not.
Most mares can not handle fescue, some can.
Also, feed mills can sometimes contaminate horse feed with cow feed. I don't know if they make any cow feed containing urea but i know cows thrive on the stuff and it can kill or abort horses. . We had a tank pf molassis containing urea in very pasture during winter months but were warned not to let any horses get close to those licks.
Lastly an easy way to find out if you have fescue in your pasture is to allow your pasture grass go to seed. Fescue has a very distinctive seed head and is easy to spot. If you do find any you can take it out with round up. It it is too much to handle with a hand sprayer you need to kill ever thing and start over in your brood mare pastures.
As a side note, once, maybe now, the litter out of chicken houses was/is mixed with insilage and fed to beef cattle. The urea in the chicken manue allows cows to make proteen out of very common feed and it also makes them eat everyting in sight.
griff
Most cows can handle fescue, some can not.
Most mares can not handle fescue, some can.
Also, feed mills can sometimes contaminate horse feed with cow feed. I don't know if they make any cow feed containing urea but i know cows thrive on the stuff and it can kill or abort horses. . We had a tank pf molassis containing urea in very pasture during winter months but were warned not to let any horses get close to those licks.
Lastly an easy way to find out if you have fescue in your pasture is to allow your pasture grass go to seed. Fescue has a very distinctive seed head and is easy to spot. If you do find any you can take it out with round up. It it is too much to handle with a hand sprayer you need to kill ever thing and start over in your brood mare pastures.
As a side note, once, maybe now, the litter out of chicken houses was/is mixed with insilage and fed to beef cattle. The urea in the chicken manue allows cows to make proteen out of very common feed and it also makes them eat everyting in sight.
griff
"We has met the enemy and he is us" [Pogo]
fescue
trying to figure out what is wrong with fescue my mares graze on it in the summer and live on it thru most of the winter and then taking it away about 3 months before they foal no problems here of course it's not pure fescue its a mix of fescue and orchard but for the most part fescue , now someone was tellng me that the fescue grown in the south is different but i don't know
-
Shammy Davis
- Chef de Race: Classic
- Posts: 4451
- Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:23 am
The link suggested at the end:
Some years back I read some research that disagrees with the above conclusion. Both my VETS also disagree. I supplement with alfalfa cubes everyday and have not had any problems with my mares that could be connected to fescue toxins.
Supplementing the diet of a pregnant mare grazing infected fescue with grain or legume (alfalfa) hay to dilute the toxins has not proven to be effective in preventing problems, as it has been in cattle.
Some years back I read some research that disagrees with the above conclusion. Both my VETS also disagree. I supplement with alfalfa cubes everyday and have not had any problems with my mares that could be connected to fescue toxins.
I wonder if it is related in some way to the drought condition last year. A lot of pastures ended up being overgrazed, and hay was been hard to find this winter, so on some farms, mares may have been eating stuff they wouldn't normally be getting.
It seems to me that there has been a huge increase in the number of red bag deliveries this year, but a lot of these have been premature births rather than the classic symptoms of fescue toxity, i.e., prolonged gestation, lack of milk production, thickened placenta, and oftentimes weak foals. I had one this year for the first time, and the vet attributed it to fescue toxity. My mare foaled on day 329 (normal for her), built a normal milk bag, did the usual waxing/dripping, and the placenta was normal. The only thing that wasn't normal was for the placenta to detach before she foaled. The pastures did take the heat, and we ended up feeding more hay from various sources.
It seems to me that there has been a huge increase in the number of red bag deliveries this year, but a lot of these have been premature births rather than the classic symptoms of fescue toxity, i.e., prolonged gestation, lack of milk production, thickened placenta, and oftentimes weak foals. I had one this year for the first time, and the vet attributed it to fescue toxity. My mare foaled on day 329 (normal for her), built a normal milk bag, did the usual waxing/dripping, and the placenta was normal. The only thing that wasn't normal was for the placenta to detach before she foaled. The pastures did take the heat, and we ended up feeding more hay from various sources.