Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1905-11-10
CATTLE DIE FROM
EATING PIGWEEO
InI Willamette Valley-Discovery
Made by State Agricul-
tural College.

IL Is announced at tne state ARrl-
cultural College that pigweed, or
redroot, a weed very common
throughout the Willamette Valley,
and also grows in Southern Oregon
Is under certain conditions fatal TO
livestock, particularly cattle. The
discovery was made by Professor Per-
not In the meteorological depart
ment during the past few days.
For several years it has been com
mon for the department to receive a
great many pathological specimens
from cattle that die in the late Sum.
mer or late Fall before the first rains
come. Always in the past the inves.
tigation Of these specimens has failed
to result in detection of the trouble.
The discovery came from investiga-
tion Of pathological specimens sent
by the stock inspector of Marion
County from farm near Gervais,
where IA cattle died within o com
paratively short period. A long study
Of the samples failed to reveal the
trouble, and the case was about to be
given up when the microscope re-
vealed a highly infamed condition
In a section tf an intestine. Atten.
tion was thon directed to fecal mat
ter contents and a myriad Of small
seeds were found, the fecal matter
being literally studded with them
Professor Lake and Professor Coote
both identified the seeds as amaran.
thus eetroplexus (Iigweed). In a
mature state, pod incloses the seed.
and on this pod there are spines or
stickers. These spines are very sharp
and very minute, generally, and are
mainly composed Of silica, which
renders them inholuable in the gastric
juices Of the stomach, and even pre-
vents them from being softened by
their passage through the various
organs.
Further study of the intestine
finally revealed thousands of these
minute and finty spines in the mu.
cous membrane Of the intestine, many
of them having pierced the inies-
tinal wall. A high state OF infam.
nation is the consequence, and the
animals dies of acute gastrits.
Cattle will not eat the weed until
il is mature, and not then if there is
other forage. Here in Southern Ore
gon so far as can be learned cattle
have not been killed from eating this
weed Whether it is because Rogue
River cattle have plenty of other
forage and are not forced to eat rag
weed, as is sometimes the case in the
eatenout, barren pastures Of the will.
annette Valley, or by the roadside
where many cattle get precarious
living in that Valley. Andrew Reh.
kopt, a prominent Arplegate farmer
and who has lived in that Valley
since 1854, states that he has never
known cattle to die from eating pig
v eed. The weed grows quite plenti.
fully in the Applegate Valley, but
stock seldom feed on it in its ripe
state, so Mr. Rehkopf states He
brought to the Courier office "a sam
pie of the weed. 1t is about three
'eet high and grows in single,
fright stalk, and when ripe the up.
ier third is covered with bushy
growth giving it a diameter of an
nch or more. This covering contains
nnumerable seeds that are very small, |
mt as hard as wood and very sharp |
It their point. The covering Of the |
eeds is a fine fuzz that is of spiney |
Iature and would be even more dan.
ierous and indigestible than the
eeds The weed in the green state
= relished by cattle and Mr.. Rehkopf
ays that hogs are especially fond of
+ hence its name of pig weed.