There is a strong suspicion that eight head of cattle died recently in the Steele area because they had eaten toxic plants they don't normally eat but resorted to in their drought-stricken pasture, according to a local veterinarian and a Kidder County extension agent.

Troy Dutton, a veterinarian at the Steele Veterinarian Clinic, said their focus is on tansy ragwort, a toxic plant that's present in the pastures.

Gwen Payne, a Kidder County extension agent, said material from the cattle has been sent to a lab for testing and the vet clinic is waiting for results.

Dutton said they should get the results back in a week to 10 days, and he expected the extension service would issue a press release at that point.

Dutton said he didn't want to release much information now to protect the confidentiality of the cattle owner.

He said it's amazing to him that cattle are still producing and raising calves on what's out there, or rather, not out there.

"It's bad, really bad,"he said.

Susan Keller, a state veterinarian with the North Dakota State Board of Animal Health, said her office hasn't heard of any other cases like Kidder's. But often they won't because "most of the time it's dealt with between the producer and the vet."

Iin these dry conditions the grass is disappearing. But the weeds seem to be able to thrive, Keller said. And she said there is a long list of weeds that have a lot of toxicity. Some weeds are naturally toxic. Others are good at concentrating nitrates in their stalks.

Payne said Kidder County pastures are in bad shape. But the tansy ragwort is there to eat. And Payne said that she has personally seen cattle in her county eating it.

"Lots of cattle are starting to eat plants they don't normally eat,"she said. "The grass isn't there for them anymore."

According to information from the United States Department of Agriculture, tansy ragwort is generally unpalatable to livestock and so is only eaten when other food is scarce or can't be avoided as in hay or silage. Affected animals generally die within several weeks or months.

Payne said she's starting to get calls from cattle producers looking for hay and pasture.

She said her office is working on putting together some drought meetings to give general information on what to do in these drought conditions - such things as nutritional information on what supplements to feed along with the expensive hay that ranchers might be forced to buy.

And there will be information on the economics of the situation for ranchers trying to decide if they should sell their cows or hang on to them.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)