Integrated management strategies to prevent livestock losses.

Effects of Poisonous Plants on Livestock documents the proceedings of a U.S.-Australian symposium on the effects of poisonous plants on domestic livestock. The symposium was held at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, on 19-24 June 1977. The volume is organized into eight parts. Part I discusses poisonous plant problems in the United States and Australia. Part II contains papers on general topics such as inorganic toxicants and poisonous plants; the hazard of plant toxicities to the human population; and selenium in plants as a cause of livestock poisoning. Part III examines the effects of simple phytotoxins such as selenium and oxalate on livestock. Part IV focuses on the effects of plant hepatotoxins, including pyrrolizidine alkaloids, Artemisia nova, and Tetradymia spp. Part V deals with plant cardio/pulmonary toxins such as Myoporum spp. and Pimelea spp. Part VI tales up plant neurotoxins while Part VII discusses plant teratogens and toxins affecting reproduction. Part VII presents studies on other toxic substances. It includes studies on oak poisoning and pine needle abortion in cattle.

Focusing on those poisonous plant species with a broad geographic distribution and the greatest economic effect, the contributor to this interdisciplinary volume examine the environmental factors that promote or encourage poisonous plant growth and spread, plant population cycles, the conditions under which poisoning occurs, toxins responsible for poisoning and their effects on livestock, and the management responses to reduce losses.The general economic impact is also examined, looking at Frequency and economic aspect of loss from outright death to reduced weaning weight and reproductive efficiency- and forage losses within the context of annual, sporadic or catastrophic losses as well as the costs of the prevention are examined within an agricultural economic aspects of poisons plant control and management. This book is of interest not only to range scientist but also to botanists, ecologists, animal scientists, and behavior lists, and agricultural economists. It will serve as both a source book and a useful methodological guide.

The preparation of this handbook was undertaken because of the great lack of readily available and reliable information on the subject in English scientific literature. Many of the facts were known to a few interested persons, but many others were so scattered here and there in technical reports and journals that they were scarcely known even to expert chemists and botanists. The subject is of importance for farmers and veterinary surgeons alike, for the annual loss of stock due to poisonous plants, though not ascertainable, is undoubtedly considerable. It was felt that notes on mechanical injury caused by plants and on the influence of plants on milk might usefully be included, as in some degree related to poisoning; this has therefore been done. On the other hand, a number of cultivated plants (e.g. Rhus, Wistaria) which are poisonous have not been included because exotic and hardly likely to be eaten by stock. Fungi generally also find no place in the volume, as they are sufficiently extensive to deserve a volume to themselves, and are far less readily identified than flowering plants. The dividing line between plants that are actually poisonous and those which are only suspected is far from clear, but a division was considered desirable for the convenience of the reader, and an endeavor has been made to give a sound but brief statement as to the present information on plants poisonous to livestock in the United Kingdom, with symptoms, toxic principles, and a list of the more important references to the bibliography in relation to each plant included in Chapters II to VI (the numbers corresponding with the numbers in the Bibliography).

Livestock poisoning by plants is one of the serious causes of economic loss to the livestock industry. Veterinarians and animal owners are frequently confronted with the task of determining whether or not a plant is responsible for poisoning of animals. Similarly the presence of plants other than grasses in a pasture is always a concern to livestock owners. Ingestion of many plants produces non-specific clinical signs that must be differentiated from other disease conditions. In addition, death due to toxic plant ingestion often does not result in characteristic post-mortem lesions. Unfortunately, relatively few laboratory tests are available to detect plant toxins in either ante-mortem or post-mortem samples. Making a definitive diagnosis of plant poisoning is difficult. It is important to be familiar with the poisonous plants growing in the specific area and the conditions under which animals may be poisoned. Hence, the pathology of plant poisonings in animals is necessary to be studied for proper management, treatment, prevention and control of plant poisoning cases.