| Show F A R ni ELI m aulm POISONOUS PLANTS KILL RANGE STOCK prepared by the lh U united ri led states department ot f As cu I 1 tum among the the many anxieties of the range stockman not the least Is the worry occasioned by the presence of a great variety 0 of plants poisonous to cattle and sheep the problem ot of reducing the losses from tills this cause has been of much concern to the states in that region and scientists of the united states department of agriculture have devoted much attention to finding the various plants responsible ible for the losses describing them and suggesting practices that will protect r t the industry no exact enact figures ere are available as to the number of animals lost each year through this cause but there 1 Is evidence that the drain to Is heavy probably as much as 3 to 6 5 per cent estimates are that stockmen stoc kmen in III colorado alone lose a million dollars annually as a result of plant poisoning sheep men in wyoming believe their losses from the same caime are nearly 15 per cen cent to most of the animals being mature ones which represent a large expenditure in their ral raising ing investigations show that although there are many poisonous plants most of the losses are caused by a few species practically all the deaths of sheep and cattle from plant poisoning are caused by death camas larkspurs lark spurs locos water hemlock laurels milk weeds western sneezeweed colorado rubber plant woody aster goldenrod fern coyotillo coyotl llo wild cherry greasewood oak lupines lugines lu pines coffee bean and indian turnip some of these plants cause very ery heavy losses under certain conditions and some of them are only occasionally eaten in dangerous quantities stockmen Stoc kmen may protect themselves from losses by studying these various plants so as to be able to recognize them the department Is making investigations and has issued descriptions of a great many man y of them |
