According to a number of studies done, grazers normally do not have a preference for eating Astragali because it is not very palatable but, through one animal beginning to eat it, others will follow. Animals that have become addicted will continue to eat locoweed until they die. Due to this addiction or habituated preference for locoweed, it is important to have no animals in the herd which are Astragalus eaters. These are necessary at times when the threat of animals eating and becoming habituated to the plants are high. It was also found that fall applications were the most effective and that most other seasons had a lower rate of success.
Locoweeds have growth habits that make poisoning more likely.
They remain green over the winter and are often the first plants to begin regrowth in the spring, making them a suitable feed for animals during the time when few aother plants are available. In order to avoid this, ranchers should not overstaock ranges that have an appreciable number of locoweeds in them, allowing for enough good forage so animals don't begin to graze on the locoweed. By keeping locoweed free plots for spring grazing and animals that have become habituated to locoweed, poisoning can be minimized. Less hazardous pastures can also be made by early season clipping of Astragalus . This results in there being smaller amounts of edible biomass and lower overall amounts of toxins.