– Victor Shelton, NRCS State Agronomist/Grazing Specialist
I sometimes get in a hurry when I sit down to write. That sometimes causes me to have a bit of tunnel vision and I don’t get in enough detail due to lack of time or space in the article. That happened in August and I heard about it, and I still have some tire tracts from a couple buses. I guess I should have said more.
A lowly under-utilized endophyte infected fescue plant stands alone and untouched with more palatable overgrazed forages available around it.
I may have been a little hard on tall fescue last month, but Kentucky 31 endophyte infected tall fescue does have issues. Much of the tall fescue in Indiana is infected with the endophyte, a fungus that produces a toxic substance known as ergovaline. The endophyte and ergovaline are responsible for reduced palatability of tall fescue especially when it is under stress. Fescue toxicosis is responsible for elevated body temperatures, restricted blood flow to extremities and poor animal performance.
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