Show AND LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT fly By Pr Dr Gustav Guslav nII Professor of Animal husbandry University of Wisconsin Sudan Grass Safe Now Some years ago Sudan grass acquired a 11 bad reputation be cause of the occasional poison ing of cattle To B a lesser e sheep were poisoned too but horses and hogs were not af af- af affected We Ve hoar hear much less 1088 about Suo Su- den dan grass poll poisoning nowadays very likely because newer strains of the grase gran have less of the vt t pru prussic acid t and also be I e 55 J reuse cause most dai dairymen arid and stockmen have havo to keep their cattle oft So- So BuDr Dr Da don til grass it is en- en enDa at t least belly b ld lh h to a cow After that It is qUIte safe At the University of sin Bin we have pastured Sudan grass for forty lars ears without losing a single Bingle animal ammal Come to think of it t yes at one time we i fl ft si i did lose a whole herd of cows s in ina a Sudan grass l pasture but not Mt from poisoning It was because the Sudan grass s was so 80 tall that we WB had to hunt for the cows en- en un tit til wo we found them pe peacefully chewing their cuds Why did we escape harmful results Because we did not pas pas- pasture pas ture Sudan grass until it was fully eighteen Inches high Also we gave rows some Borne br be n n feed before turning them to 1 and they were never so raven raven- ravenously hungry that they gorged on the palatable sweet t forage Well do I remember a sum sum- summer mer in the thirties when in a neighboring county seventeen cows were found dead in one pasture from the effects of stunted drought Sudan grass The rows cows belonged to n a h- h hoc bor and had been In an adjoin ing mg pasture of dry and seared scared bluegrass when tIle the short dark clark green Sudan pasture nearby proved too much of a tempts tion for them They broke through the line fence to their undoing Frosted Sudan grass no more than frosted sorghum so Is likely to be poisonous What Wha t may mayhap mayhap- hilI pen however Is that after an early killing frost new shoots shoot start and they prove to he be high in e o prussic C acid d or cy- cy cyanide r 5 r anide In one such case 5 shoots had hod milligrams of prussic acid per grams of dry tissue This is ismore ismore more than seven times the safe limit of 50 milligrams or so fn Pl When I in doubt dont don't n endanger dan ger the stock send Bend a sample of the Sudan grass to the Ripen Ripen- ment Station for a quirk quick analysis sis Question ion t I Can the use of soh Bul salt alt blocks be justified AlC er From recent nt experimental mental work at the University of Illinois It can Sheep on low protein and therefore low sul rations responded favor ably to the addition of sulphur in some Bome form fann even the mar mar- gank form This also holds true where urea is used liberally as asa Ii a protein substitute for rumi- rumi ruminants pants nants |