Pigweed toxicity?

[Fallow Farm]

I’ll do my best to keep this short, but details matter.

Quite a few years ago, I planted 10 acres of iron & clay cowpeas. Ranch is 1000 acres, fallow deer, whitetail, Mulies, red Stag and Aoudad. The fallow were introduced about a year prior.

Toward the end of antler growing season, I started finding big fallow bucks dead. I think I had 10 big Fallow bucks and 1/2 of them died.

Cow peas, if properly inoculated, will fix nitrogen in the soil. We have a pigweed problem too. Apparently, pigweed can become more toxic when grown in soil with a high nitrogen content.

Fallow Deer will eat anything. I had a problem with them eating cardboard boxes in my house when we were framing and doing plumbing and electrical.

Fallow are hardy deer. They just don’t fall over dead. Nothing else died. Stag, whitetail etc. everyone was fine.

I was left with the conclusion that the fallow died from pigweed toxicity. I have no other plausible explanation.

So, yesterday, I saw a fallow doe walking around a nice full cow-pea plot with a big pigweed in her mouth, just walking and chewing.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Do you see your deer eating pig weed?

 

[bigboreblr]

Whats the chemical in pigweed? Might be able to draw blood and have it tested to confirm.

Saw this.....

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology-and-pharmaceutical-science/amaranthus-retroflexus#:~:text=and%20Risk%20Factors.-,Amaranthus%20spp.,that%20causes%20renal%20tubular%20nephrosis.

Might be able to contact a veterarian to get a biopsy of a kidney. If you see a suspected fresh dead deer, put the kidney in the fridge. Can also do bloodwork fpr kidney function on a mature buck.

 

[Fallow Farm]

. Can also do bloodwork fpr kidney function on a mature buck.

That’s something I hadn’t thought of. Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind on the next buck I dart.

 

[Catscratch]

I'd never heard of it. Good luck with finding the problem!

 

[Fallow Farm]

If you google “Do deer eat pigweed?” you get so many examples of pigweed being a preferred “ice cream” plant.

Then “Pigweed toxicity” and you see all the ways pigweed kills livestock. And how stressed or highly fertilized pigweed is more toxic.

Add to this that fallow will literally eat cardboard boxes, and I can see why they would eat too much pigweed.

 

[Fallow Farm]

I fence off my peas to give them 30 days head start before deer get to them. I just let them in the peas this weekend. Kind of desperate for a solution, other than hand hoeing and removing every pigweed.

 

[Foggy47]

I had a pigweed issue a few years ago....and it's what drove me away from row crops and into no-till food plots and my drill. The theory was to "crowd out" the pigweed with rye, clover and things I wanted....and leave no open space to grow the pigweed. Seems to have worked for me.....as I got an immediate result the following year.

I think my pigweed originated from some seed I bought from a local source. Cannot say how much pigweed the deer consumed.......or if they were eating it. It was overtaking my efforts to grow soybeans. No more tillage or row crops for me now. Drill baby drill.

You don't say where your located Fallow?

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Pigweed is largely ignored by deer in our area. I hit one of my plots last summer with a dicamba/triclopyr herbicide. It smoked absolutely everything and looked like a waste land for a few months. I followed that up with tillage and fall planted crops like annual clover, peas, raddish, turnips, oats, and winter rye. My plan this year is to seed buckwheat, sub. clover, and sunflowers into the standing rye. Crimp it and follow with a gly application to make sure I take out as much of the living plants as possible. Hoping that from that point on I can just use crimping to terminate without the need for herbicide or tillage.

 

[Fallow Farm]

You don't say where your located Fallow?

My ranch is in NW TX close to the panhandle. That’s where I had the loss of 1/2 my bucks. Now, I have some fallow where I live North of Dallas.

 

[bigboreblr]

You might want something grassy that handles grazing pressure. And of course in TX, something drought tolerant.

Since pigweed is more toxic ith nitrgoen, perhaps growing them in nitrogen fixing legumes isn't ideal. With grasses, you can use 2,4D.

Purdue had a good read on pigweed control.

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/WS-44-W.pdf

Another tool which some folks use is a weed wiper. It allows the taller than your crop species to be coated with herbicide. Usually used with roundup, but sure you can use it with almost anythng. Often filled in heavy conectrations. Like 1/2 water 1/2 41% gly. Might need to be more mindful mixing several herbicides in one pass with such a heavy concentration.

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PErhaps with a weed wiper, put other speicies of deer on that spot for thise season. Then put something you can more easily control with a conventional herbicide sprayer.

Not sure if it was the purdue article or another, but seed germination goes down significantly with tillage. There's the old farmer's method of running a plow, then waiting a week or two for the young seeds to grows, then discing the soil. Even just discing, then waiting a week or two, then spray gly before planting.

You dig back a few months, there are 2 or 3 good threads on southern state food plot options, and drought tolerant crops too.

IF doing small grains, it might be better to purchase seed than buying localy harvested feed seed. I've had decent results with rye, wheat, and oats locally. lthough I have a red aramath problem likely not caused from their seeds.

 

[Fallow Farm]

You might want something grassy that handles grazing pressure. And of course in TX, something drought tolerant.

Since pigweed is more toxic ith nitrgoen, perhaps growing them in nitrogen fixing legumes isn't ideal. With grasses, you can use 2,4D.

Purdue had a good read on pigweed control.

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/WS-44-W.pdf

Another tool which some folks use is a weed wiper. It allows the taller than your crop species to be coated with herbicide. Usually used with roundup, but sure you can use it with almost anythng. Often filled in heavy conectrations. Like 1/2 water 1/2 41% gly. Might need to be more mindful mixing several herbicides in one pass with such a heavy concentration.

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Buy Smucker Smucker Weed Wiper 5' PVC ATV Mount Top Crop Kit | WWTCATV5-EC - WWTCATV5-EC from Barndoor Ag.

barndoorag.com

PErhaps with a weed wiper, put other speicies of deer on that spot for thise season. Then put something you can more easily control with a conventional herbicide sprayer.

Not sure if it was the purdue article or another, but seed germination goes down significantly with tillage. There's the old farmer's method of running a plow, then waiting a week or two for the young seeds to grows, then discing the soil. Even just discing, then waiting a week or two, then spray gly before planting.

You dig back a few months, there are 2 or 3 good threads on southern state food plot options, and drought tolerant crops too.

IF doing small grains, it might be better to purchase seed than buying localy harvested feed seed. I've had decent results with rye, wheat, and oats locally. lthough I have a red aramath problem likely not caused from their seeds.

That is all very good advice. I like the weed wiper idea. The multiple plow method has worked well in the past too.

But I gotta grow the peas. the cowpeas are so incredible at growing big antlers that I just can’t find a good alternative. So, I’ll have to deal with controlling them.

This plot is small (1.5 AC) I can spot spray the problem areas, and there aren’t that many problem areas.

I did such a horrible job at plowing and sowing this plot this year. Lots of costal Coming up and peas are mostly growing in rows 8’ apart, which tells me my “disc in” method has some real issues, a little 8’ disc on a 170 hp John Deere 7800 … not a great match up.

For what it’s worth, I have been doing this for 20 years out west, but this is my first time planting peas in this soil and it is a *#%€&@$er to plow! I need a D-9 with rippers to get through this soil.

I gotta get a drill in here as my herd will grow and I have to get every sq ft growing food.

 

[drycreek]

I had a pigweed problem for about three years. I hand pulled them, I disced them, and I burned them down with gly. They always came back. But this year, after planting a Green Cover mix and adding rye to it, I think I choked them out. Last fall’s planting was THICK and I think those black pepper sized seeds just couldn’t get a start. When I crimped that plot this spring I didn’t spot a pigweed anywhere. And yes, I think I got them in some IC peas because they showed up after I planted that crop. Every time I plant IC peas now, I draw up a little !

 

[Fallow Farm]

I had a pigweed problem for about three years. I hand pulled them, I disced them, and I burned them down with gly. They always came back. But this year, after planting a Green Cover mix and adding rye to it, I think I choked them out. Last fall’s planting was THICK and I think those black pepper sized seeds just couldn’t get a start. When I crimped that plot this spring I didn’t spot a pigweed anywhere. And yes, I think I got them in some IC peas because they showed up after I planted that crop. Every time I plant IC peas now, I draw up a little !

Why were you so ruthless against the pigweed? Did you just want a nice pure stand? Or were you scared of toxicity?

For what it’s worth, I’m still not sure toxic pigweed was my problem, but I’m not going to ignore it.

 

[drycreek]

Why were you so ruthless against the pigweed? Did you just want a nice pure stand? Or were you scared of toxicity?

For what it’s worth, I’m still not sure toxic pigweed was my problem, but I’m not going to ignore it.

Yes to the pure stand, but the main reason is it takes over if unmolested. There are tens of thousands of seeds, maybe millions, in a bunch of pigweed. I didn’t want it taking up space in the crop I planted and certainly didn’t want it hitch hiking on my implements to other plots. I have dealt with it before on another place, and it won’t go away if you ignore it.

 

[Foggy47]

Yes to the pure stand, but the main reason is it takes over if unmolested. There are tens of thousands of seeds, maybe millions, in a bunch of pigweed. I didn’t want it taking up space in the crop I planted and certainly didn’t want it hitch hiking on my implements to other plots. I have dealt with it before on another place, and it won’t go away if you ignore it.

Pigweed is one ugly customer if you don't deal with it. That chit is like a Democrat....it's sucks the blood out of anything it sees.

 

[davidhelmly]

Pigweed is one ugly customer if you don't deal with it. That chit is like a Democrat....it's sucks the blood out of anything it sees.

Amen