_ QAK-LEAF POISONING OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 25 
ger of ‘‘oak-brush poisoning’’ was considered to be past by the ranch 
owners, and the cattle were run into the 16-section pasture. 
None of these cattle were injured by the oak eaten, though observa- 
tion showed them to be eating a large quantity of it. No. 784 was 
especially fond of the oak. Between March 31 and April 23 she was 
seen almost daily either eating oak or lying in the best oak patches. 
At times she ate the oak very greedily. April 1 she was fed alfalfa, 
and from April 14 on, it was noticed that she ate other things with 
the oak, such as bear-grass buds and grass. She was very fond of 
the bear-grass buds. 
On April 4 she was thin and gaunt, a condition which continued 
until April 16, when she began to look better. It was thought during 
this period that she might develop into an oak-brush case. From 
April 16 on, her condition improved. 
RESULTS ON OTHER CATTLE IN 5-SECTION PASTURE. 
Besides the lot mentioned as having been fed cottonseed cake, 
something over 200 head of cattle were beg run in the 5-section 
pasture. Of these, 38 were bulls and about 75 were yearlings, the 
remainder being old cows and calves. The bulls and yearlings had 
been fed to some extent, the other cattle had not. While making 
the almost daily rides about the 5-section pasture, close watch was 
kept of these animals to see what they were eating, and to catch any 
possible cases of ‘‘oak-brush poisoning.”’ 
The main diet of practically all these cattle was oak. This was 
determined by observing the animals grazing, and noting where they 
were feeding, as shown by tracks. Most of the pastures being drifting 
sand which filled old tracks almost daily, this observation was easy. 
The oak in this pasture was kept grazed down while in an adjoining 
pasture with no cattle it showed good growth. 
The buds began swelling first on the higher sandhills and last on 
the flats. From about March 29, when the buds first began showing 
to any extent on the sandhills, until near the middle of April, the 
cattle grazed mostly on the sandhills. By this time the buds had 
begun to swell on the flats. Some little grass also appeared on the 
flats at this time, and the cattle began leaving the hills, and were 
more and more seen feeding on the flats. In other words, they went 
where they could get the oak buds and young leaves on which they 
did the main part of their grazing. When grasses and weeds began to 
show up, however, about the middle of April, they took what they 
could get of them. 
From April 8 on, an opportunity was given these cattle to get a little 
alfalfa hay every two or three days. Some days they were rounded 
up at one of the wells and fed, and some days hay was thrown out 
so that they could get it when they came in to water. Most of them 
took advantage of it. From the time the observations began until 
