This is the day, week and next week that we gotta watch close for cattle that are standing around in the lot waiting for the grain wagon to show up. The grass is almost all dead, the hay is out in the sun and if there is one speck of shade in the lot, the cattle will gang up in it. And that is where the purple mint loves to grow.
I have a real relationship with purple mint. I try to kill every little plant I find and have hauled pickup loads out of my lots. No, I wasn’t always so smart; it took the loss of several head of good heifers and a couple of steers to get my attention.
The cattle don’t die real quick, like a lightning strike, and it is not a normal thing for cattle to eat the noxious weed. You might not even see any of the stock nibbling on a weed, and that is about all it takes, some serious nibbling. The ones thatare imbibing in the weed start looking pretty wormy or just bad. We know the heat is so hard on the herd that we might just lay their tight-hide looks off on suffering the weather until they really start to show their stress.
The lungs are the aim of the poison, and when it hits there isn’t much to do but watch them die. Talk about suffering, the ones who are dying do so suffer. We doctored several head but lost them anyway. Seems inhumane not to do anything, and costly to try. Their body score goes to about 1 1/2 before they start showing signs of death, but you can tell the reaper is near.
The plant grows about anywhere there is a barn lot or close to a pond. It is highly scented and will turn your stomach by the time you pull it out of your lot. The leaves are a purple hue on their underside and the stem of the plantis square. You won’t miss it but once and then you will be like a hound on a rabbit trail.
My vet told us the cattle just get bored standing around and at the first bite don’t care much for the taste but, like other noxious drugs, it grows on them and they sorta get to liking it. They are akin to the couch potatoes in our species, just want to eat to kill time. Junk-food junkies that are committing a grave error. No pun intended!
I have been out patrolling the place for the weed and checking to see if it has been bitten off at the top.The offspring have their places to clear out too and some of the Grands are old enough to be put on duty. We have probably pulled another ton of the stuff this past couple of weeks.
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, if we can take care of a problem before it happens, we are all better for it. I sincerely hope no one loses cattle to purple mint and if you have any questions, please contact your vet.
Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 07/20/2011