Dangerous seeds

Well the word is getting out , I guess there was an episode on Pheasants Forever telivision on the subject, thanks to anyone who spoke up, Also I was able to get good feedback from the president of the MN NRCS, and the area Pres. of NRCS in Fergus falls. He is in charge of a project next to me and they may be switching the seed mixes around now, possibly to a weat seed or oats. Glad to see some people starting to take it serious.:thumbsup:
 
Western dog owners and their vets have dealt with this for years, it's pretty common with cheatgrass and foxtail to have problems with awns getting imbedded in a dog and causing problems.

Canada Rye to the best of my knowledge hasn't caused as many problems over the years, the problem now is that some conservation groups are pushing it as an early cover crop in newly established plantings so it's popping up more often. Not all rye is a problem---there are other varieties of rye that seem less susceptible to the problem so they don't have to abandon use of fast germinating rye in general.
 
You need to look at essfta.com and click on grass awn project. Weather it is labled as Canada rye, virginia, rye or wild rye. Means nothing. The main reason for the rise in the problem is the use of it for the cover crops yes but it started not all that long ago. And I have seen what it does first hand. What you need to do is try to stop the use of it so every single planting from here on out does not have it. Or get them to take steps to burn it out or some other meathod of eradicating it. It should be on the noxicious weed list, not in our hunting programs. If you do look at the link and educate yourself look at the nation wide distribution map, You will see how serious it is.Maybe you can deal with it in your area but we don't want it here.
 
Last edited:
tmrichardson said:
Western dog owners and their vets have dealt with this for years, it's pretty common with cheatgrass and foxtail to have problems with awns getting imbedded in a dog and causing problems.

Canada Rye to the best of my knowledge hasn't caused as many problems over the years, the problem now is that some conservation groups are pushing it as an early cover crop in newly established plantings so it's popping up more often. Not all rye is a problem---there are other varieties of rye that seem less susceptible to the problem so they don't have to abandon use of fast germinating rye in general.
Click to expand...

Are you a walking encyclopidea? just seems like you are a very smart man, you seem to know about western dog owners, Nebraska, South Dakota
Most everything about MN and it's law. Just curious on how you can be so smart, I think it is amazing. And you should be very proud. Not many people can be so gifted with that much knoledge.
:cheers:
 
Grass Seeds in Ears

Hello,

My vet discovered a couple grase seeds in my Brittany's ears at her last exam. Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid this? The vet suggested cotton balls but she immediately shakes them out.

Thanks!
 
I have had britt's for over 45 years. They always get somekind of seed in there ears and eyes. Clean them out after each trip as best as possible. You don't have the tools the vet has for deep down inside the ear. You can't even see them. If my dog is shaking its' head a lot I take him to the vet and get the seeds cleaned out. Plus after the season I have it done again. There always is some seeds in there.....Bob
 
bobeyerite is correct. You can't even see them even with an otoscope (unless you're trained how to use it). What I do is trim all the hair inside the ear flap. This lessens the chance of them getting them. If the do start shaking I put otomax, or even baby oil in the ear to soften an neutralize the foxtail. An ear flush might help but a trip to the vet is probably what's needed. And yes, prevention by avoiding them works best, although not always easy.
 
bobeyerite said:
I have had britt's for over 45 years. They always get somekind of seed in there ears and eyes. Clean them out after each trip as best as possible. You don't have the tools the vet has for deep down inside the ear. You can't even see them. If my dog is shaking its' head a lot I take him to the vet and get the seeds cleaned out. Plus after the season I have it done again. There always is some seeds in there.....Bob
Click to expand...

Yup BOB is correct on this one. calisdad is correct also. You have to take time after the hunt to look your dogs over. If you dont, Issues will come up.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all the tips. I'll keep an eye on her ears and hit her with the ear wash after hunting. We leave tomorrow for a week of hunting in Norther Montana. Hopefully we will come home with lots of birds and no seeds!
 
Careful out there (foxtails)!

Keep and eye out for those damn foxtails! Just had a big a$$ vet bill yesterday. Check and double check those paws!

Had a great day of play at a friend's property over the weekend. great pond to swim in, plenty of open space to play. The pup had a blast chasing tennis balls and my folks' lab for 2.5 straight hours. Noticed her working her paw really good the following day or so.

I checked it out and just saw a good sore, couldn't quite tell if a tear, or what. Vet had to sedate and dig into the paw --- foxtail between the toes !:eek: had worked it's way in, then down. I guess was on it's way to come out of the bottom of her foot. ugh. bandaged and coned for 3 days. then asphalt only for another week.

Looks like that cut field of wild grass had a bunch of dried, chopped up foxtails. it was so small, I couldn't notice it. I even checked her paws (which I do regularly anyways!) Good thing it's early in the year, so plenty of time to get that foot ready for training and hunting.
 
This stuff is for real. They still are not changing there ways, they still choose to kill your dogs. Voice your opinions at your local PF chapters and local USDA office. I know they are sitll doing it cause they had some of the crap in the drill I rented by accident. Ding bats....:mad: Make your calls..... Gitter done so your kids dogs have safe places to hunt in the future. ALL CRP will end up with this junk in it if we do nothing. Land owners can request them to leave it out and they have to....!!! PF is responsible for letting it go on as well, get after em.
 
Swim

I allwise swim dogs after running and then check them ,use your fingers to feel for seeds ! Also I require that all long haired dogs be clipped short before " summer" they are brought in for training.
 
Last edited:
Your dog can eat one, inhale one, breathe one up a nostrel, and a guy in our club even had one go up the males sheath, so for normal stuff yes this is fine, but it can kill your dog in so many ways. Get after em or it won't stop and you could be the next one told you have a tumor and put your dog down.
 
Thanks for the enlightenment FC.One of my spaniels was rendered impotent by what I thought was a sand burr needle.His sack puffed up about baseball size.I put him in the truck cab to go to the vet, and shut the door before his sack was clear.When the door hit it,it popped like a water balloon and he sounded like he was gutshot.I quit hunting extreme SW SD because of the sand burr infestation.I wonder after seeing your info,if that really was the culprit?
 
OK when I looked in to buying my Native seed, I went right to the grower. I skipped right by the middle men. I went to Kaste seed by Pelican Rapids. I laid out what I was doing and he helped through the whole process. I left with my bag of seed and waited with anticipation for spring. I went over the cover crop issue with them and asked or expressed my dis like of the rye grasses and others. There is no need for a cover crop he told me at all. They never use one. He took me to various fields of different stages of growth and sure enough, no cover crop. Growing just fine. So I did not use any either. Now my field grew fantastic. I actually had to mow it the first season in sept. It was waist high. I mowed it to 8". It made it back to 1-3' tall. And no cover crop. The main reason for it is looks. It grows fast and shows up for land owners as seemingly beautiful cover rapidly. And cheap. I am not a bio scientist and don't claim any thing that comes out of my mouth to be true:D, but this is my observation. Local SWCD folks were kind enough to forget, or were to lazy to take Crye out of the drill when they rented it to me. So I know they use it. I had to fight seed heads all fall and mowed it for that reason. Luckily I called Kaste again and said I plan to kill and start over because of these ding bats. He said to mow and not to panic. He would help me. OK, How? well in spring the Rye grasses are cold season. Being first season with no seeds getting out I can round up every thing the first week and a half -2 weeks of green up. That will kill the rye, brome residue, and quack and some other minor regrowth of unwanted plants. The Native warm season grass will pop up about 2 weeks later not harmed. Thank God it is a small patch. This is why I say make sure the drill is vacuumed out when you use it on your land.
 
Last edited:
Okay, sorry about the delay. I've once again over extended myself with issues:eek:

Anyway, Illinois PF turned me over to talk to our farm bill biologist to discuss this issue in further detail.

He told me they have been well aware of the dog issue and Canadian Rye. In response they substituted Canadian Rye for Oats in all but one mix (CP25).

This is for Illinois. If you are in another state, you have to contact your states PF bio. and go from there if your chapter hasn't already done so.

Il. chapters, if you have to use a CP25 seed mix, contact one of our PF reps to inquire about an alternative, or, be sure the land owner knows about the risks to dogs so they can make the decision as to what to do.;)
 
FCSpringer said:
Just avoid the fields with the dangerous ones. The rest just use ear wash.
Click to expand...

FCSpringer,

I was out on the range today taking a look at the early green-up from recent rains that we have this year. WOW I cannot believe the amount of Cheatgrass Foxtail and Rye grass. The only thing I can think is that the severe drought we have had for the past several years has allowed the early starting Cheatgrass too make a huge gain on the Native grasses. In areas we had huge fires last year it is even worse.
 
I don't know about how it got to other areas. But here the feds and PF put it in. 1 Pheas, I would let him know that CP25 having it is not exceptable! Any is too much. They, PF said they were done using it. They Lie, thats why I do not support them any more. I never support stupidity. They will keep hearing from me untill they quit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top