Storage and handling after the test add to the problems. I have always wondered about these places that store pallets of bagged corn in front of their store on asphalt and in full sun. The feed store will have his corn inside the building, avoiding the heat build-up that can increase the aflatoxin growth rate. In normal years, this is not a problem but this is far from being a normal year.

Correct. But with cleaning of corn you skim off the bad or worst parts that are the highest in aflatoxin and it becomes corn screening used in feed mixes for the most part. The bags used to today will breath and still be water proof for the most part. Corn raised in Texas is dried in the field and corn in the midwest has to be dried in storage is shipped to Texas before bagging. Good grain storage facilities will not let corn with bad moisture levels in it get into bags.

Ya with every thing stressed it's a lot higher probability...then the corn toxin

lost a few about ten years ago to both

cattle dont have anything to tell them when they are "full" which is why they can eat themselves to death if they get into corn. Horses are even worse about it.

Cows will cut themselves back why you can feed them whole round bales of alfalfa... But your right don't do that with a horse. Cows can handle lots of hot feed horses can not

Corn is nothing if you want to see what a cow can handle feed wise go to a dairy....silage and alfalfa are hot feeds

Cows can eat corn all day long, It's the wet moldy stuff that bad.

I personally don't see how ten cows can
A) eat enough corn from a spinner feeder
B) eat enough off the ground to harm them.... Corn normally has to pile up for them to eat it.... They can get some off the bare ground but not much... Big chore for them.

If the whole herd looks poor my vote would go toward mineral difficiencies from lack of feed & breaking down and dying out in this heat.

Like I said.

Or that

Agreed

Good read here on Alfatoxin. Don't know why I cant get links to work.

less the 50ppm for wildlife feeds.

http://www.jacobyfeed.com/deer-corn.html

We've lost 60+ head on the big ranch and theres no corn feed there, their dropping like fly's all over TX.

Without seeing your ranch and the type of grasses that are on there it is impossible to know what killed those cows. Prussic poisioning, as was suggested, is possible if you have sudan type grasses. During a drought year those grasses get stressed and build up nitrogen. Usually it doesn't hurt the cows if they just graze on it in passing. Unless you just turned them loose on a field of sudan grass prussic poisioning should not be the factor here. Cows feed much closer to the ground during a drought year and can pick up many different viruses and bacteria. They could have contracted black leg or even anthrax among other diseases. The only way to know for sure what killed those cows is an autopsy by a qualified vet.

This is what we noticed in our research.

Bad range conditions have cows dying everywhere across the state. Our "rancher" is just trying to blame it on the corn to try to get the feed store (or us) to pay for his lost cattle.

Thanks for all the replys.

Hope it all works out for you,sounds like your rancher might be on a "witch hunt" to off set his lose,and unfortunatly you might be lookin for a new lease if it doesnt go his way.

Could've been the heat but the question that i have is were those cows on sudan?

I think that if we can prove to the landowner that the little bit of corn they ate didn't kill them (and things do get ugly), the landowner would lease to a new rancher, not kick us off.

The local biologist gave me the name/email of a proffessor at Texas A & M that is supposed to be able to tell me for sure "how much Aflitoxin" it takes to kill a cow. I was just wanting some other opinions as well.

Could be coccidiosis if the pasture is overstocked and overgrazed.....although it is more common during wet seasons with overcrowded lots than it is during a dry season like we have now. When the cattle have to start grazing neer the root systems of the forage in the pasture (due to overgrazing and overcrowding), they will will pick up parasites. I've dealt with it and it isn't good.

Yearling yes, cows not so much

Rancher doesn't recognize stress? (his fault!)

Exactly right!!!

And I saw someone say something about never seeing corn test higher then 600. Well, a local farmer that I know here took some in to the mill to get tested this year. The feed mills meter only went to 800 and it pegged it out! That is what happens when you only recieve 5"+/- of rain the last 10 months and have pumped the fertilizer to the corn field!

That said, I don't believe for a minute that corn from a feeder killed these cows!