The 2018 growing season created a flurry of problems for many farming operations in the area. Persistent wet conditions created delay after delay and many crops became set-back, damaged, or even completely flooded out. These weather conditions lead to a massive crop of Johnson grass in many pastures and hayfields that could not be grazed or cut in a timely manner because it was simply too wet to enter the field with equipment or livestock. The negative issue that this created was that Johnson grass, once damaged by a frost event, carries prussic acid, an acid that is highly toxic to ruminate animals such as cattle.

During the month of October and early November, the Clark County Extension Office became slammed with questions and concerns regarding prussic acid toxicity in Johnson grass, and rightfully so. During this time we were handling multiple calls, emails, or office visits per day with the issue (I even received an email from a gentleman from Texas asking about Johnson grass!), along with several sight visits per week to discuss the issue. With the assistance of a prussic acid testing kit provided by University of Kentucky Forage Specialist I was able to aid farmers in their decision making process of when they could safely let their herds graze the Johnson grass, along with letting them know that it would be safe to harvest in the form of hay or haylege. During this six week period I was able to connect with a lot of farmers, not always being able to tell them the news they wanted to hear. But they learned about the grazing restrictions that damaged Johnson grass presents and were also able to form a relationship with their relatively new County Agriculture Agent.