Show ha seen inal I 1 states I 1 losses loom I 1 in sheep and range I 1 cattle from poisonous plants have been a problem to the range livestock industry for many years according to dr wayne bibins USDA animal i disease and parasite re be search division utah state university experiment ment station the past few years year this rO bienA has haa greatly increased AN t glo me mp ratus one of the poisonous ou plants which cause great losses primarily to sheep is now known to be present in it II western states tate ills iti is thought to have been introduced in the US and nevada in 1934 it is 6 almost impossible to control the spread jot fit this plant by the use of grubbing and herbicides herbic ides 11 Sheep men should always be on guard when trailing their herds and they should never allow a hungry band to be held overnight in an infested area if sheep are driven through heavily infested nalo geton areas they should be supplemented with other teed feed considerable co ns research rese arch has been done to try and deter mine substances which would help prevent poisoning dr wayne cook of the experiment station showed that supplementing the animals with calcium car bonate during the time they were eating in an infested area was effective in preventing poisoning re ia t search which hay has been done by tho the shows chows that dl calcium phosphate mixed with grain or alfalfa pellets to a level of five percent and then a quarter pound of these pellets fed to each animal dally when they are being trailed through the an ri infested areas prevented tosses from this plant the toxic substance ta rt the plant Is sodium sodium and potassium when the plant Is ingested the oxalates cre re absorbed into the blood i stream and the calcium of the blood united with the ox abates and forms a compound of calcium oxalate which is filtered out of the blood through the kidneys this causes a very rapid decrease of blood calcium and results in coma and death within nine to eleven hours |