The Mysterious Grass That Killed Hundreds of Klickitat Cattle
A Bickleton stockman blamed a rarely ripened wire grass for a deadly outbreak among cattle in Klickitat County.
C. G. Wattenbarger, a stockman of Bickleton, Klickitat County, says hundreds of cattle have died in that section within the last months from eating a wire grass, a substance hitherto unknown to stockmen. The early rains of last fall caused a hasty growth of a grass that ripened. It usually never ripens. He believes it has hitherto been eaten when green, and in that state was not injurious.
“Hundreds of cattle have died in that section within the last months from eating a wire grass, a substance hitherto unknown to stockmen.”
Klickitat County still depends on rangeland and livestock, and unfamiliar forage or toxic plants remain a real risk. The item also captures a period when settler stockmen were learning the hard way how native grasses behaved.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.