The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1917-01-18
.LUPINE POISONING AND
ITS EFFECT ON SHEEP
BY W. b. Barratt, President of The
Oregon Noolgrowers Associa-
ton. y

! effect of Lupine poisoning on sheep
!: at the Woolgrowers' meeting in Hepp
!: ner, Dec. 1916, has been conducive
/ of great good to the sheep industry
/ thereby demonstrating to dead Ger.
/ tainty, that this plant under certain
conditions and in certain localities
. is deadly poison to sheep when ar.
irving from the mountains onto oul
|. dry winter ranges, after being driven
. long distances without sufficient feed
7 or water and if sheepman will pro.
| fit by their experience and loss OF
many valuable sheep this fall, many
thousands of dollars can be saved by
little effort ON their part in the fu-
ture. The nature of this plant, Is
to come up from the root in the
spring, about the beginning of April
in the form OF plant somewhat re-
sembling the peona, only green in
color. grow to the size of we'll ma
tured potato plant, produce long
spiral blue blossom, mature and pro-
duce seed which is in reality small
pink bean, which if conditions are
normal, should dry up and fall out
about the time wheat is harvested
After this, the plant drys up and be-
comes more or less harmless, which
accounts for no loss of sheep in
years when normal conditions prevail
but on the other hand as has been
the late rains and heavy thunder
storms during the summer, this plant
takes a second growth. the same as
| alfalfa, produces seed the same as
the first stems and keeps green the
entire summer, and is in its most
deadly stage about the time the sheep
come from the mountains.
While the Lupine-plant grows in
the mountains and along the foothill
| ranges to the extent of l 5 to 20 miles
from timber line, it does not seem
to be harmful to stock of any kind
This has caused such diversity of
opinion among the sheepman as to its
poisor GUS nature. The only reas-
onaD,e theory that can be advanced
on this head, is that the nafGre of
the soil changes the nature OF the
plant, for it is fact that the soil
in the mountains and along the foot
hills is to large extent free from
alkalies and mineral salts, it being
black loan, while on the middle.and
lower ranges, the soil is volcanic ash
and mixed with alkaloids and other
mineral salts and the Lupine-plaLtI
being deeprooted, like alfalfa, abb
serbs more of these minerals which
accounts for it being more poisonous
in these LOCALITIES While the loss
is not SO pronounced in the spring
Of the year yet | am convinced that !
many sheep, especially yearlings, are
lost from eating this same plant, es7
pecially when the grass has begun to
dry up, or if the sheep have been |
kept up in corrals, for the purpose |
Of marketing, shearing or branding |
so as to cause them to become hung |
ry enough to grab the first thing that |
looks good or green to them, bad re-
suits will follow and while no reme-
dy for this poison has been used to
any degree Of success, this fall
lave had marked success with Per-
nangumate OF Potassium, for the last
% years on sheep being poisoned,
presumably from this same plant in
the spring of the year, which shows, |.
either that the plant Is not deadly
)r that the stomach of the sheep, L
though being fed on green grass and
other nutritious weeds, is in a strong
er condition to resist it, for the re-
cent demonstration has shown, by /
the two sheep brought in by Mr.
Minor, that had been running
IN alfalfa pasture all summer. And
although fed some Of the same stuff
that was fed the two big range wea-
theirs furnished by V. Gentry, and
seemed to eat it greedily, were imune
and are alive today, while the two
big weathers that came off of dry
feed died within forty-eight hours
from the time it was fed to them
If the two sheep that Mr.. Minor
brought in had been the only ones
tested, the whole experiment would
have been a failure and some of US
might have gone on for the next
forty years without knowing what
was killing our sheep. While there
is no doubt that many sheep die from
alkalies and other poisons, | fully
believe that 80 per cent of this perio-
dical loss among sheep after coming
from the mountains is caused from
Lupine and the reason that it is hard
for some to believe as | do, is the
fact that 1t takes from six to forty
eight hours before death takes place
after the plant has been eaten, which
has been demonstrated by the recent
experiment, so that a band of shep
could be driven ten or twelve miles ,
before showing signs Of getting sick
and If they happen to be near water
before getting sick, then alkali is
blamed for it, because we are prone |
to believe that whenever or where
ever sheep is taken sick, on that
spot is where they got the poison. {
So far there Is no remedy for this loss