– Stan Smith, OSU Extension PA, Fairfield County
With the spring of 2012 arriving in Ohio much earlier than is typical, we’ve now been dealing with seed heads in pasture and hay fields for better than 3 weeks. At the same time, I’ve already heard about some pinkeye issues in parts of the State. At times we tend to blame seed heads for pinkeye, and thus assume that mowing them might be the cure.
A few years ago in this publication, OSU Extension Educator Rory Lewandowski discussed the pros and cons of clipping the seed heads from pasture plants in his article To Clip or Not to Clip. A number of questions from readers resulted from that article in regard to whether clipping pastures should be viewed as a method of reducing, or even preventing pinkeye in pastured cattle. With “pinkeye season” upon us now Continue reading →