From: gnd@idaho.amdahl.com (Greg Darnell)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Fescue info (long)
Date: 4 Sep 92 15:51:53 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corp., Rexburg, ID

Ruth Vale <rmvale@watnow.uwaterloo.ca> writes:
>...
>I thought that fescue was toxic, especially to pregnant mares.  Could
>someone please verify this or correct me?  Otherwise, I'll write a 
>letter to the editor of this local newspaper which is otherwise
>respected and much read in an agricultural area.
> 
I hesitated to post this again, since last time I got flamed by someone
who thinks I'm a monster for letting our mares graze on fescue at all...

The following info is all obtained from an article from the Oregon Tall 
Fescue Commission (sorry, no address given) that I picked up at the Eastern
Idaho State Fair [comments in brackets are mine]  Remember, this is from
a group with a vested interest in having fescue used, so expect some
bias:

The fungus or endophyte "Acremonium coenophialum" is associated with
"fescue toxicity", discovered in the '70s by the USDA in Georgia after the
widespread discovery of poor growth and appearance of cattle grazing fescue.
Most of the early research was related to milk production and growth of 
cattle.  Later studies implicated the same fungus in equine reproductive
problems:
  Clemson: mares grazing non-infected pastures produced more live foals, 
   had less agalactia, fewer retained placentas, and higher percentage of
   conception after foaling.  Selenium injections had no effect.
  U. Kentucky: 40% of mares grazing infected fescue had repro. abnormalities.
  U. Georgia: prolactin levels in blood (associated with milk production)
   were lower when mares grazed infected, but not non-infected, fescue.
  Missouri, 1980: survey of 298 farms, over 1000 mares:
    11.5% of mares grazing pastures without fescue had repro. problems,
    17.7% of mares grazing pastures with mixtures of fescue and others,
    26.8% of mares grazing pure fescue had problems.
  Auburn, 1986:  22 mares, 11 on infected and 11 on non-infected fescue:
    all 11 on non-infected fescue had normal births, milk, etc.
    only 1 of 11 foals on infected pasture survived the natal period, and
     four of the mares had to be euthanized due to foaling problems.

|> Is there a way to test for this infected fescue?  

The fungus is an endophyte, which means that it grows inside the plants.
Several labs in fescue-growing regions can perform tests to determine if
the fescue is infected.  County agricultural extension agents can provide
the location of these labs as well as sampling procedures and costs.
The only way to eliminate infected fescue is to kill it entirely [using
Roundup or other nasties]; if the pasture has a significant amount of 
bermudagrass or bahiagrass the herbicides may be applied during the summer
when the summer grasses are dormant, and enough may live to maintain the
pasture without replanting.  Tillage is not recommended due to the 
difficulty of killing fescue in an old, established sod.  If at all
possible, one should plant annual forages or some row crop for at least
one growing season prior to replanting fescue.

|> Is there something I can do do lesson any chance of miscarriages?

In the past, it has been recommended that mares be denied access to infected
fescue for at least 90 days prior to foaling.  Recent studies at Auburn and
Clemson indicate that removal even 30 to 45 days prior to foaling will 
greatly reduce the likelihood of problems.  Cattlemen have found that
providing high energy supplementation or growing legumes with fescue will
greatly reduce the adverse effects of the fungus; however, a study at
Clemson indicates that this approach does not appear to be effective with
horses.
[end of summarized text]

We have a fair amount of fescue in our pastures.  We have not had it 
tested, because we don't have enough pasture that we can afford to kill
and reseed it.  Our property was formerly a quarterhorse breeding 
operation with up to 30 mares foaling per year; they never experienced,
nor have we in three foalings, any of
the problems mentioned, but then the weather here enforces a 60-day
removal period since they foal in March and the pasture is covered by
snow by late December (and we feed alfalfa hay; infected fescue hay is
just as bad as infected pasture).

Greg
-- 
 Greg Darnell    Amdahl Corporation    143 N. 2 E., Rexburg, Idaho 83440
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