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News broke yesterday that a farmer in Elgin, Texas, lost fifteen cattle out of an 18-member herd, after turning them into a pasture planted with Tifton 85 grass, a popular variety noted for its high protein content and high digestibility released in 1993. It is a variety widely planted in Tennessee.

According to Jerry Abel, the owner of the 80-acre farm just east of Austin, TX, “When our trainer first heard the bellowing, he thought our pregnant heifer may be having a calf or something,” said Abel. “But when he got down here, virtually all of the steers and heifers were on the ground. Some were already dead, and the others were already in convulsions.” Fifteen of the 18 cattle turned into the pasture were dead within hours.

Initial tests on the grass showed that the grass was producing cyanide gas, killing the cattle. According to the report, USDA scientists are currently dissecting the grass to determine if a random mutation may be to blame, and what may have caused it to occur. Dr. Gary Warner, an Elgin veterinarian and cattle specialist who conducted the 15 necropsies on the dead cattle, suggested a possible link to the ongoing drought, expressing concern that it may be a combination of factors that led to the mutation. Other ranchers in the area have had their Tifton 85 fields tested, and several of the samples have tested positive for cyanide, although no other cattle are believed to have died to date.