Locoweeds have growth habits that make poisoning more likely. They remain green 
over the winter and are often the first plants to begin regrowth in the spring, making them a suitable feed for animals during the time when few aother plants are available. In order to avoid this, ranchers should not overstaock ranges that have an appreciable number of locoweeds in them, allowing for enough good forage so animals don't begin to graze on the locoweed. By keeping locoweed free plots for spring grazing and animals that have become habituated to locoweed, poisoning can be minimized. Animals should also be watched closely for signs of poisoning and removed to "clean" pastures should they begin to show symptoms of poisoning. Clean pastures can be made through the use of pesticides or determined weeding (sometimes very difficult because of the deep root of Astragali). (Ralphs and Pfister, !
1994) Less hazardous pastures can also be made by early season clipping of Astragalus. This results in there being smaller amounts of edible biomass and lower overall amounts of toxins. (Majak et al. 1988)
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Many ranchers know that if they have a small number of animals in their herd that begin to eat locoweed, soon the majority of the herd will begin to eat. According to a number of studies done, grazers normally do not have a preference for eating Astragali because it is not very palatable but, through one animal beginning to eat it, others will follow. This phenomenon is known as "social facilitation" -or- peer pressure. Animals that have become addicted will continue to eat locoweed until they die.