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Al opens 2026 by thanking listeners after the first full podcast year and outlining plans for more practical guests and more local producers, with monthly veterinary updates from Chelsea (Herd Solutions) and monthly livestock market updates from Morgs (Elders). Chelsea returns, briefly updates her healed foot injury, then discusses an increase in plant-toxicity risk with warm, humid autumn conditions and rain, including rising facial eczema spore counts and how to collect pasture samples cut to the base for testing. They cover paspalum staggers indicators, then review local toxicity cases: bracken fern linked to later bladder cancer when cattle were exposed during a wart outbreak (leading to euthanasia), bracken’s potential to cause hemolysis and red urine, St John’s wort causing photosensitization (primary and secondary) from roadside grazing, prussic acid (cyanide) toxicity causing sudden deaths after cattle ate dredged drain plants, and nitrate toxicity risks in overcast conditions and fertilized forages, including persistence in silage and testing options.

00:00 Welcome Back for 2026

01:04 Chelsea Returns and Toe Update

03:29 Back on the Horse

06:10 Horse Fitness and Rest Days

08:16 Why Plant Toxicity Spikes

09:08 Facial Eczema Spore Testing

11:54 Pasture Staggers and Temperature Thresholds

13:07 Local Toxic Plants to Watch

15:36 Bracken Fern Case Study

20:00 How Bracken Causes Bladder Cancer

21:50 Herd Risk and Hard Decisions

23:07 Why Thorough Exams Matter

23:53 Bracken Fern Blood Risks

25:17 Red Urine False Alarm

26:09 St Johns Wort Signs

29:48 How Photosensitization Works

32:42 Prussic Acid Sudden Death

38:02 Garden Waste Toxicity Chat

39:10 Nitrate Toxicity and Testing

41:54 Wrap Up and Thanks