Pennycress in my hayfield

In addition to my dead calf and limping cow, the other bad news came one day after the calf's death: my newly planted alfalfa hay field is no good and is a total loss.

Weeds are common in a newly planted field.  I was told to expect them.  Just cut the field before the weeds go to seed.  The alfalfa and grass was slow to start and the weeds took off.  My field looked terrible.  People were trying to be kind and would not say how poor my field looked until I mentioned it.  They all said how much they loved how my field looked last year.

I saw Chris, the guy who planted my oats, barley and peas field last year, and I told him about the weeds.

"Yes, that's natural."

"But I have a lot of weeds."

"Yes, just cut the field and weeds before they go to seed."

"Ok... but I really have a lot of weeds."

This June it seemed to rain at least every three days.  Many farmers had their cut hay rained on.  A number of farmers obviously don't pay attention to the weather forecast.  A weed specialist I spoke with said he had talked with an outfit that cuts and sells lots of hay.  He was told that with a thousand acres they couldn't wait for better weather.  These outfits also get two to three cuttings a season.

Now that we are in July the rain quit.  The farmers who only get one cutting a year waited and got rain-free hay.

The whole point of this rain talk is that I watch the weather forecast and didn't want rained on hay.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited.

The weeds were starting to turn to seed.   Then Donna looked closer at my field and thought the weeds were fan weed.   Livestock will eat fan weed.  People can eat fan weed even though they have a bitter taste.

You can eat it, but it doesn't taste very good. 🙂  Seriously, like most wild greens in the mustard family, it has a very pronounced flavor. The bigger the plants get, the stronger the flavor, and once they've bloomed, you'd have to be really hungry. Cooking takes the edge off, although you can use very young greens in salads if you like a little extra kick. Hot radish eaters, this is the salad green for you.

The next morning a county weed spraying truck was down the road from Donna's house so she asked the driver if he had a weed book.  She found the weed was indeed fan weed, or known as stink weed  (yes, I had a period where my field smelled bad), or officially known as "pennycress".  It is not a noxious weed and not toxic.  Good.  I read up more on the internet about "pennycress" and found a university did a study on "pennycress" and found that while livestock can eat the weed, eating more than 25% of their diet with the weed is harmful.

The plant contains sufficient quantities of glucosinolates to be toxic. During dry periods, cattle in western Canada have ingested hay containing high quantities of stinkweed, or field pennycress. Poisoning, death and abortion occurred. Tests of field pennycress showed that the allylthiocyanate (a glucosinolate) content is sufficient to cause sickness and death in cattle. Fatalities occurred at about 65 mg/kg of body weight. The amount of this chemical varies with the stage of maturity of the plant, the highest amount is in the seeds. Cattle that ingested hay containing between 25-100% field pennycress were colicky and some abortions occurred. 

Oh no!     My entire field was useless.  I estimated that two-thirds to three-fourths of my field was pennycress.  Alfalfa and grass were trying to grow, and some areas had more alfalfa than pennycress, or areas with more grass than pennycress, but not enough make it safe for the cattle.  I had so much pennycress it looked like I had planted it.  Donna wondered if the seed I bought was infected with this seed.  She even called the place I bought the seeds from and was told that no, they didn't have weed seeds in the seed they sold me.

I also learned that the seeds can lie dormant for 20 years.

Each plant can produce as many as 20,000 seeds, which can remain viable in the soil for as long as 20 years and are easily dispersed by wind and water.

I called the local university ag extension weed specialist and he confirmed that in large amounts pennycress is toxic for livestock.  Not even goats can eat it in large quantities.  So much for giving it away.

Why hadn't the weeds appeared last year when I planted the oats, barley and pea crop?  I was told those crops were more aggressive growers than alfalfa and grass and the pennycress most likely couldn't compete in getting started.  Pennycress is found in bare ground.  I have seen the plants in the past in pasture areas of bare ground, i.e. after I dug out a tree stump and had bare dirt until the grass grew back.  Once the grass grew back the pennycress was gone.

Look at all that pennycress turning to seed!

Pennycress

Pennycress with alfalfa

Alfalfa with some pennycress.  Why couldn't my field be like this?!

Because I had waited to avoid the rain and the pennycress was starting to create seeds, I couldn't just cut my field and let it decay.  I had to cut and bale and remove and dispose of the bales.  I had to do all the work and get nothing for it.  And I would have no hay for my cattle this coming Winter.   A disaster!

The disaster saga will continue....


For more information on pennycress:  https://commonsensehome.com/field-pennycress/

https://ipm.missouri.edu/IPCM/2016/4/Weed_of_the_Month-Field_Pennycress/