Free webinar available on forage crops toxic for cattle
Growing cover crops offers potential benefits, including improved soil health, but some crops can pose a danger to foraging livestock. Those contemplating this decision should know that some plants that work well as cover crops may not be suitable for forage or grazing.
Great Plains Grazing team member and Kansas State University Southeast Area Extension Beef Systems Specialist Jaymelynn Farney will present "Potentially Toxic Forage Crops for Cattle," a free webinar at 1:30 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, June 28.
The webinar is open to anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of how cover crops can fit into a livestock grazing system.
Webinar participants can expect to learn:
- dangers associated with grazing some cover crop species, and
- ways to manage potentially toxic forage crops.
Farney is based at K-State's Southeast Agricultural Research Center in Parsons. She grew up in Fort Sumner, New Mexico where her family had a cow-calf operation. She completed her associate's degree in agriculture from Butler Community College where she was a member of the livestock judging team and then continued her education at Kansas State University in animal science. Jaymelynn then went to Oklahoma State University to complete her master's in ruminant nutrition with an emphasis on receiving calf management. She returned to K-State to complete her Ph.D. in ruminant nutrition, using the dairy cow as the model for how inflammation impacts production.
Farney's research interests include alternative forages and management practices to improve cowherd efficiency.
She is involved in the Sunflower Supreme Replacement Heifer Program which developed protocols for replacement heifer development to help with breeding and calving ease.
The June 28 webinar is part of a monthly series hosted by Great Plains Grazing, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture and Food Research Initiative-Coordinated Agricultural Project (USDA-AFRI-CAP) grant. The webinars aim to provide research-based information, and are targeted for producers and extension agents. Previous webinars are archived and more information is available at
