The 1st outbreak of fescue toxicosis in South Africa was recently confirmed in a Brahman herd at Perdekop, near Standerton, in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Within 3 weeks of being placed on a fescue pasture in mid-winter, 50 of 385 cattle developed lameness and/or necrosis of the tail. The farmer had established Festuca elatior L. (tall fescue, Iewag variety) on c. 140 ha for winter grazi...

The use of Brahman in cow–calf production offers some adaptation to the harsh characteristics of endophyte-infected tall fescue. Criollo breeds, such as the Romosinuano, may have similar adaptation. The objectives were to estimate genetic effects in Romosinuano, Angus, and crossbred cows for their weights, weights of their calves, and ratios (calf weight:cow weight and cow weight change:calf we...

Grazing represents a sustainable alternative for the control of medusahead infestations but intake of medusahead by ruminants is typically low. We determined in sheep whether (1) high-energy supplements enhance medusahead intake and preference relative to a treatment without supplementation and (2) individual differences in medusahead intake transfer to individual differences in the ingestion o...

............................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................ v CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1 Thesis Organization .......................

unshaded sites in southern USA when exposed to high summer temperatures (Van Santen and Sleper, 1996). The design of agroforestry systems requires a thorough understandNeither orchardgrass nor tall fescue had significant ing of biological interactions that might complement or constrain yield reduction in pots exposed to 50% shade, and orproduction. The objective of this study was to examine eff...

Chaparral herbicide has shown in small-plot experiments to suppress seed head emergence in tall fescue. A two-yr grazing experiment is being conducted with steers grazed on endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures that are either treated or untreated with Chaparral herbicide. The objective of the experiment is to determine if suppression of seed head emergence and maturity can increase average d...