Due to the recent drought, available forage for grazing livestock is being sought by everyone at this time, but there are major concerns with certain types of grass.  

The Buffalo Trace Ag Agents hosted their annual Farm School for Women and the topic for the second meeting was pasture management.  This included a farm tour that looked at various pasture management issues including the use of annuals such as sorghum / sudan grass to fill the summer grazing needs.  Because of the recent drought, it was explained how these types of forage can accumulate Nitrates and be toxic to animals grazing them.  Once sufficient rainfall is available, growth to dilute the accumulated nitrates may allow the plants to be grazed or harvested.  A second concern with this forage is the chance for Prussic Acid to be released if a frost occurs.  This is even more of a concern since many hay fields that may have Johnsongrass which is very similar to Sorghum are being grazed to stretch forage supplies.  

Following the field tour, a demonstration on how to test for Nitrates and also for Prussic Acid were conducted and participants were urged to work with the agents in case they have fields that needed to be checked.