Horrible find in my hay yesterday

[Jcran]

Right now alfalfa is hard to come by around here. I'm buying 4-6 bales at a time from whomever has it available. Yesterday, I found a LOT of flixweed in my hay. I had to return the hay and give articles to the feed dealer along with pictures of the goiter monster babies from back in 2007. For all you folks out there getting stuck with last year's first cutting, be on the lookout! Luckily, I think I only fed out two bales of it, but I do have two does left to kid in 5 weeks and at the end of June. I am upping their kelp, and praying they didn't get enough to cause problems in their kids (probably two-three days of feeding it to them).

[HappyFarmer]

Jcran,

I'd love to have a link to that article you mentioned. I've never heard of flixweed causing goiters and would like to read up on it.

Thanks,

HF

[Alice In TX/MO]

Info about what it looks like:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/flixweed.html

PDF file of usda article, connection to goiter:
http://ddr.nal.usda.gov/bitstream/10...ND43954300.pdf

[Alice In TX/MO]

Really awful picture of deformed kid. Flixweed suspected.
http://dairygoatsplus.com/forum/view...c5e1c9d575cf55

[HappyFarmer]

Looks like the range is most of the US. I've never seen it but will certainly be looking for it now.

JCran I hope your goats are okay.

HF

[Backfourty,MI.]

Thanks for brining this to our attention Jcran, I had never heard of flixseed or the problems it can cause.
I only buy 2nd & 3rd cutting hay but still is good to know what to look for.

[where I want to]

Joan- the vet was out last Tuesday and said she got alfalfa from some Mennonite store in Fortuna- I have no idea of the quality as the vet hadn't fed it at that time.
Good luck with the girls- I doubt it was long enough to cause a problem.

[LoneStrChic23]

Oh my!

Sorry to hijack but what do you do to kill Flixweed?

I have a HUGE stretch of plants that look identical to the plants in the first link Alice posted growing on my property! I just mowed them down this past weekend, but what should I do to get rid of them?

They aren't growing close to the goat pen, but they do occupy an area that we are fencing in for the goats.....

[RoyalValley]

OMYHECK! This stuff is all over our property. The yellow mustard, we call it, and the purple mustard are some of the first weeds to come up. None of my goats or cows seem to have any signs of the goiter, but it's kind of scary.

So I will echo what Lonstarchic said, how do you get rid of it and how do you know if it's too much??

[dunroven]

Flixweed is a disaster. My goats got it this year, and I have no idea what it looks like in the midst of hay. Unfortunately, I didn't find out until my goats were kidding, and it causes a horrible iodine deficiency, and if you can find my post that says, WHAT THE HECK IS THIS, you will see the goiters caused by it. The one picture is one of my does that I lost. I had 6 babies this year from 3 girls, and only 3 babies survived. However, I was fortunate to have that many survive. From my own research on this, most of the does that are born are either stillborn or die shortly after birth. I had 1 of each of those. Then my sweet little Milly goat, lived for one week, and then died. She just couldn't get right with the world after all she had been through with that incredible weed. I am going to try very hard to never encounter it again, but for sure and certain, feed your goats enough iodized salt, and if you even "think" you might have it, paint the undersides of the tails of your goats with 7% iodine from the vet. Its cheap stuff and well worth the precaution.

I wish I had known.

[GoatsRus]

This came from the link that Alice posted on goiter:


Although flixweed is a member of the mustard family, and is a common weed and contaminant of hay fed to livestock, it has surprisingly not been reported as a cause of goiter in animals.

It says that it does not cause goiter in animals.

[CaliannG]

Originally Posted by GoatsRus

It says that it does not cause goiter in animals.

It then goes on to say:

"A herd of 28 pregnant Boer goats fed grass hay containing 10-15% flixweed produced
59 kids, of which 40.7% (17 males, seven females) were either born dead, or died shortly
after birth (Knight et al. 2005). Many of the affected kids (six male and five female) were
hairless with obvious thyroid hyperplasia (Figure 1) and had abnormally large birth weights
(7.0-7.5 kg). Glucosinolate analysis of the flixweed found in the hay revealed significant
levels of 3-butenyl (gluconapin) and allyl (sinigrin) glucosinolate (Table 1). Subsequent
removal of the flixweed from the goat's diet and providing an iodine-containing mineral
prevented further occurrence of goiter in the herd."

So *technically you are correct. If you feed your goats flixweed, they will not suddenly get goiters.

However, if you feed your pregnant does flixweed, it will inhibit iodine uptake, make your does and kids iodine deficient, which will cause all the symptoms of iodine deficiency in newborn kids, including goiters.

[MrsSurplus]

Originally Posted by Jcran

Right now alfalfa is hard to come by around here. I'm buying 4-6 bales at a time from whomever has it available. Yesterday, I found a LOT of flixweed in my hay. I had to return the hay and give articles to the feed dealer along with pictures of the goiter monster babies from back in 2007. For all you folks out there getting stuck with last year's first cutting, be on the lookout! Luckily, I think I only fed out two bales of it, but I do have two does left to kid in 5 weeks and at the end of June. I am upping their kelp, and praying they didn't get enough to cause problems in their kids (probably two-three days of feeding it to them).

Oh, I'm so glad to have read this thread! This is our first year with goats (Nubians and their babes) and we have HORRIBLE Flixweed on one part of our property - that I figured the (goat) kids could dispatch. I'm so glad I know better now!
Thank you!

[mamato3]

I think i have this weed in my front yard and my goats have been nibbling on it. I hope its not as i think 2 of my does are bred. Thought only 1 has been in the front a lot the rest hate the front yard.

[LoneStrChic23]

Wish I hadn't mowed....then I could go pull it all up by the roots, but I JUST mowed it all down and I can't tell which plants are which now.... Figures, my property grows Mesquites, cactus and Flixweed really well....but my poor clover and rye are struggling thanks to no rain!

How does iodine rubbed on the tail help?

[CaliannG]

Originally Posted by LoneStrChic23

How does iodine rubbed on the tail help?

You paint the tail with iodine and it is absorbed into the skin, and system, of the goat. You use it when facing known and bad iodine deficiency, such as that caused by flixweed.

Compounds in flixweed inhibit iodine uptake, causing iodine deficiency, which leads to kid goiters, kid and doe death... so you add more iodine to the goat to keep the goat from having deficiency.

Think of it like copper and sulfates. Minerals and feeds contain a lot of sulfates, which inhibit copper uptake in goats, therefore we have to pour copper down them to make up for the fact that they are consuming all these sulfates.

[hardworkingwoman]

Wow! we have this too! Do the goats show signs of iodine deficiency like copper? I will do some searching on this.
Thanks for the great post!

[CaliannG]

Unfortunately the only sign of iodine deficiency is and enlarged thyroid gland, weak, bald kids, etc. In other words, the signs are pretty drastic.

Put some iodized salt into their mineral mix, good old Morton's is fine, or add kelp to their diet.

[~PrairieGirl~]

So how does flixweed look when it is hay form?

[Cannon_Farms]

I will look and see today if its covered under 2 4 D listing to see if that will kill it. But for now, since its a seed baring plant the best thing to do is not to let it go to seed and keep it mowed down.