# Wilted Wild Cherry Leaves



## TomCat (May 22, 2013)

How long do the wild cherry leaves stay in the wilted staged on a downed limb?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Depends upon the diameter of the limb....small 3-4 inch limbs just a couple of days....larger calf size limbs may make it a week, about like most trees. And if they get a lot of direct sunlight, that will greatly increase their drying.

Regards, Mike


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

Has anyone actually lost an animal to wilted cherry leaves? All our pastures have woodland in them. We do our best to keep the animals away when a cherry comes down. Many times I go out after a storm and the cattle have already found the down cherry tree and have stripped all the leaves they could get tooo....never lost an animal from it...


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

I think my wife said they lost a dairy cow to wilted Cherry leaves once, she's taking a nap I'll ask her when she wakes up. We've just about wiped out all the Wild Cherry trees in and around the pastures. She gets tired of checking them after every Summertime storm. I've read it takes thousands of leaves to kill one but don't quote me on that.

She said they actually lost 2 or 3 to Cherry leaves but it's been a long time ago.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

From what I have always been told, it takes more leaves to kill a mature cow than calves or horses.

From time to time we hear of cows and horses dying from cherry leaves.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I think they actually have to be wilted first, if you say had a storm come thru at midnight and by morning the cows stripped the leaves off they never had a chance to wilt.


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## LaneFarms (Apr 10, 2010)

I lost a two cows to them several years back. I talked with the local extension agent and found out that,the drying of the leaves concentrates the cyanide in them and I believe he said 1/10 of a lb of dried leaves per 100lb of body weight would kill one. Also doesn't take long like within the hour.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

A pound of dried leaves is a lot of leaves for a 1000 lb animal to eat. I was probably always safe cause there aren't enough leaves on a cherry tree to kill 15 steers that are fighting over the leaves....


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## jr in va (Apr 15, 2015)

Rule of thumb here was green leaves did not hurt but wilted would kill them.Yes, we have lost full size cows to them here.


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