Keith Johnson

148 articles by this author

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You better not feed yew to the ewe (and other livestock) In memory of livestock that met “Their Maker” because they ate yew. It’s that time of year when the yew (pronounced like the letter “U”) is likely in need of a trim to look best as a landscaping plant. Yews have been used as a common landscaping shrub or small tree for decades. They have closely spaced, glossy, rather tough, dark green, linear pointed-end leaves that are 1.5 – 2 inches long.  Hard-to-see male and female flowers are found on separate plants and form fleshy red to yellow fruits that contain a single seed. Many plants have poisonous compounds that can cause all kinds of concerns, and even death, if consumed. The interactions that I have had with veterinarians, suggest that the yew is right at or near the top of plants that cause livestock death. A disheartening scenario[Read More…]









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Hay harvest will soon be coming to a close for another year. It is important to now follow through and Sample, Test, Allocate, and Balance or STAB your hay. Doing the STAB is an important best management practice to keep your livestock healthy.     Sample – Hay from each harvest from a field should be sampled with a hay probe. Many Purdue Extension offices have a hay probe to loan to sample hay. The website foragetesting.org has a list of hay probes that can be purchased for sampling hay. Twenty probings comprise a sample. Ten large bales are sampled twice on opposite sides of the curvature of a round bale and each butt end of a rectangular bale. One probing is taken from one butt end of each of twenty small rectangular bales to comprise a sample. Probings should be placed in a clean plastic bag that can be[Read More…]