Recent rains across much of Texas have been a Godsend to farmers and ranchers. But according to a range researcher here, those same rains could trigger problems for sheep and goats grazing kleingrass pastures. Dr. Darrell Ueckert, with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at San Angelo, warned producers that now is a critical time to be on the lookout for problems in sheep and goats grazing the grass.
Summer rains can also stimulate growth of new basal leaves that can be very toxic.
We haven't had much problem in the past several years due to dry weather, but this year is shaping up to be a bad one. Ueckert said the toxic principle in kleingrass is a sapogenin. This photodynamic compound in the blood accumulates in the skin, making it very sensitive to sunlight. This is called photosensitization. Animals essentially get a severe sunburn, and the skin on their ears and faces sloughs off.