7-16 IAN Cyanide Grass

 Toxic Bermuda grass killing cattle in Texas. What does that mean for Idaho ranchers?

 I read an account the other day in the Idaho Statesman on a  Central Texas rancher hearing his cows bellowing in the early evening and it was not a normal sound. The rancher raced out to his herd and found them having seizures, followed by the death of the entire herd. The cause of death… Cyanide which is linked to a common Bermuda grass hybrid found in grazing lands across the Southeast. That to me is a terrifying thought but apparently authorities in Texas feel that it is just an epiphenomenon and that there is absolutely no reason to panic. I called up Wyatt Prescott, Executive Director of the Idaho Cattlemen’s Association and asked for his thoughts. “I haven’t read that much about it but I think it’s a lot of nonsense and is overblown. Although I have to admit, I am not that educated on this particular subject.”