What can happen when cattle eat toxic Johnsongrass?

Rosslyn Biggs, DVM, gives a quick overview of the potentially deadly effects of prussic acid. 

If livestock eat Johnsongrass with a fatal amount of prussic acid toxicity, their blood becomes filled with oxygen that cannot be absorbed by cells. Toxicity levels are highest after drought and frost. 

Learn more in this OSU Extension fact sheet: https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/prussic-acid-poisoning.html

Contact your local OSU Extension county office for forage testing: https://extension.okstate.edu/county

SUNUP is a weekly production agriculture show that airs Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. on OETA-TV (PBS) all across Oklahoma. The show is produced by the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University, Copyright 2022.