Please don't eat the locoweed

It was inevitable. All the snow that fell on New Mexico in December brought out a bumper crop of locoweed this spring. I was expecting it and preparing for it, but still was totally bummed out to see it in my pasture. For the last few weeks, I've been trying to convince myself that it was only growing around the edges of my land and that I'd be able to keep it in check by pulling it out by hand. Last night, I realized I was kidding myself.

(If you're a relative newcomer to the 7MSN, here is the definitive post on why locoweed makes us crazy. You can also click on "locoweed" in the list of labels at the bottom of this page to see every pathetic post I've written about the subject.)

Though not as prolific as the 2010 crop, the locoweed this year is abundant. 

The good news is that Lucy and the boys are not at all interested in tasting it.

I followed each of them around the pasture last night to see what would happen when they grazed near a patch of locoweed. 

All of them literally turned up their noses and moved on to eat the grass.

George: Excuse me? Why is that gate closed?

Me: Because it's easier to keep an eye on you guys and what you're eating when you're closer to the house, that's why.

Bubba, the licensed weed-killer who sprayed the pasture in 2010, will be coming back soon to eradicate the locoweed 

before it goes to seed, then the herd will be confined to a small, locoweed-free area for a month 

while the "Grazon P+D" does its thing. 

If Alan looks mad now, wait until you see him then.