Evaluation of Vitamin K3 Feed Additive for Prevention of Sweet Clover Disease

Abstract

Sweet clover poisoning in cattle is caused by an anticoagulant (dicumarol) that is formed in moldy sweet clover hay. Previous experiments with vitamin K₃ and vitamin K₃ in therapy trials indicated that vitamin K₃ was effective in reducing prothrombin times but vitamin K₃ was not. As a possible alternative in the use of toxic sweet clover hays, vitamin K₃ was evaluated to see if it would prevent hemorrhagic crises when fed to cattle consuming toxic sweet clover hay. Vitamin K₃ levels of 0, 0.45, 4.5, 11, and 45 mg/kg body weight/day were fed to 173-235-kg steers consuming toxic (40–50 ppm dicumarol) sweet clover. The 45-mg K₃/kg/day supplement was not palatable and had to be discontinued. The 0.45, 4.5, and 11-mg K₃/kg/day supplements did not significantly reduce the prothrombin times as compared to the 0-mg K₃/kg/day group.