24 



How to Avoid Death Camas Poisoning in Sheep and Cattle. 



Evidently in order to avoid losses on a range where death camas is 

 common, sheep should be so handled that they are never bunched up nor 

 extremely hungry. If they are to be driven from one range to another, 

 it is best to allow them to graze for an hour or two in the morning just 

 as openly and quietly as possible before starting to move them. This 

 will allow all the animals to fill with good forage and they will then use 

 greater care in the selection of their food for the remainder of the day. 

 This would not be the case if they were started on the trail immediately 

 after leaving the bed-ground. 



Figure 13. Sheep Grazing at Will on Sagebrush Range. When allowed 

 to feed quietly in scattered formation, sheep will ordinarily wholly 

 avoid death camas and many other poisonous plants. 



Another very important point is to get the sheep off the bed-ground 

 just as early in the morning as possible. When a sheep beds down at 

 night it is usually full and contented. By morning it is beginning to 

 get rather empty, and the longer it is kept' on the bed-ground the 

 hungrier it becomes ; it is then far more apt to be poisoned when it gets 

 out on the range where the death camas is common. 



In most of the cases of death camas poisoning thus far observed, the 

 animals were poisoned during the forenoon. This is due to the fact the 

 attractiveness of the plant decreases as the stomach becomes full. Thus 

 plants which may seem to be highly palatable and to be relished during 

 the morning hours are often not touched at all later in the day. This 

 is quite true of the death camas. It is grazed chiefly during the early 

 morning hours, and is seldom touched by an animal whose stomach 

 is nearly full. Therefore it is highly important that the sheep should 

 be so handled during the early morning hours that they will have the 

 greatest freedom in the selection of their range forage; if possible, 

 during this part of the morning they should be grazed on range free 

 from death camas, or where it has only a very scattering growth. 



