POISONOUS PLANTS ' tiff. 



If alfalfa or alfalfa and oil meal are not effective in overcom- 

 ing this, Epsom salts may be given (mature cattle does I pound; 

 calves, 2 oz. ; horses, 8 oz. ; sheep, 4 oz.) Animals chronically 

 locoed in addition need a remedy to overcome nervousness. For 

 horses arsenic in the form of Fowler's solution (4-6 drams) given 

 in the grain or drinking water is effective after a considerable 

 time, usually more than a month. Cattle respond best to hypoder- 

 mic injections of exceedingly small daily doses (3 to 4 twentieths 

 of a grain) of strychnine. Locoed cattle are easily killed by 

 doses which would be considered small in ordinary veterinary prac- 

 tice. It is usually necessary to treat cattle for thirty days or more.* 



On the principle that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound 

 of cure, careful stock men will keep their stock out of pastures 

 badly infected with loco until the grass has -started well in the 

 spring, and at other times when the grass is short. It is not a dif- 

 ficult plant to kill the loco plants chopping them off just below 

 the ground is sufficient. 



(b) Poison ivy. This low, three-leaved shrub is found in the 

 woods and upon north-facing hill sides and about the buttes. The 

 leaves resemble those of the boxelder. The poisoning is caused 

 by a non-volatile oil and is not spread by the blood. It causes 

 swellings, itchings, and finally, in bad cases, running sores. The 

 oil is readily dissolved and can be washed off by 50-75 per cent, 

 alcohol. If all the sugar of lead (Lead acetate) which will be 

 readily dissolved be added to weak alcohol a cure can be secured 

 as a result of several applications a day for a few days. Appli- 

 cations of castile soap are beneficial. 



(c) Snoiw-on-the-mountain. (Euphorbia). Honey made from 

 the flowers of this plant is hot and disagreeable to the taste and 

 causes vomiting and purging. The milky juice of this plant may 

 cause skin eruptions similiar to those produced by poison ivy. 

 This blistering is, in fact so decided that a few stock raisers in 

 Texas use the juice to brand cattle, it being held by them to be 

 superior to red-hot iron for that purpose, because the scar heals 

 more satisfactorily.** 



*These notes on the treatment of locoed stock are taken from Far- 

 mers Bulletin 380 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 **According to Farmers Bulletin 86. 



