Drought stress can make things rough on corn and soybean producers, but it doesn’t mean livestock producers are out of the woods when things get dry. Nitrate toxicity in forages becomes a potential threat to livestock as drought stress increases. If cattle or sheep consume enough of the toxic forages, they can literally suffocate.
When testing hay, corn stalks or cover crop for nitrates, look closely at the report to see what method the lab used to report the nitrate results.
The amount of nitrate in forage can be reduced through fermenting silage.
