Clinical hypocalcaemia associated with Yarr (Spergula arvensis) ingestion

Authors: Hicks JD, Taylor SN
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 48, Issue 3, pp 90, Jun 2000
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Cattle, Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant
Subject Terms: Minerals/elememts, Metabolic disease, Disease/defect, Locomotor, Nervous system/neurology, Poisoning - plant, Toxicology
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: Spergula arvensis (Spurrey, known locally as Yarr) is a finestemmed, viscid, erect or sprawling annual up to 30cm tall, with small white flowers and narrow, needle-shaped leaves in whorls at each stem node. It is a common weed of recently cultivated pastures. We have found no record of toxicity associated with ingestion of this plant, apart from a suggestion of illness when fed to caged birds (Roy et al., 1998). One of the authors (JDH) can recall a calcium-responsive recumbency in a small number of ewes grazing a poorly established swede crop in summer in which Yarr was the predominant green feed available. This is to report an outbreak of clinical hypocalcaemia in dairy cows grazing a paddock heavily infested with Yarr.

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