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Will aflatoxin be a concern with cattle grazing cornstalk residues?

Last Updated: March 06, 2008

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Good question. Corn crop residue is an excellent feed resource for cow/calf producers to use in their grazing programs for their beef cows. The upper level of aflatoxins that breeding cattle can consume is 100 ppb. There might be fields where the grain will contain that level of aflatoxin. However, because of the drought, there will be less grain in the fields for cattle to consume. In addition, cattle will consume a diet while in the stalk field of primarily grain, husks, and leaves, so if aflatoxins are present in the grain, they will be diluted down. So the answer to your question is there will be some risk, but because the diet will not be an all-grain diet, there is a good chance that the aflatoxin could be diluted to non-toxic levels.

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