diff --git a/plugin/traffic/lb.go b/plugin/traffic/lb.go
index 0bc6617a4..5bff77f37 100644
--- a/plugin/traffic/lb.go
+++ b/plugin/traffic/lb.go
@@ -4,11 +4,14 @@ import "github.com/miekg/dns"
 
 // See https://github.com/grpc/grpc/blob/master/doc/service_config.md for the fields in this proto.
 // We encode it as json and return it in a TXT field.
-var lbTXT = `grpc_config=[{"serviceConfig":{"loadBalancingConfig":[{"xds_experimental":{"lrs_load_reporting_server_name":""}}]}}]`
+var lbTXTxds = `grpc_config=[{"serviceConfig":{"loadBalancingConfig":[{"xds_experimental":{"lrs_load_reporting_server_name":""}}]}}]`
+
+// Current impl. that will be removed in favor of xds
+var lbTXTgrpc = `grpc_config=[{"serviceConfig":{"loadBalancingConfig":[{"grpclb":{}}]}}]`
 
 func txt(z string) []dns.RR {
 	return []dns.RR{&dns.TXT{
 		Hdr: dns.RR_Header{Name: z, Rrtype: dns.TypeTXT, Class: dns.ClassINET, Ttl: 5},
-		Txt: []string{lbTXT},
+		Txt: []string{lbTXTgrpc},
 	}}
 }
diff --git a/plugin/traffic/setup.go b/plugin/traffic/setup.go
index 788461c2c..dfe6b0ccb 100644
--- a/plugin/traffic/setup.go
+++ b/plugin/traffic/setup.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package traffic
 
 import (
 	"crypto/tls"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"math/rand"
 	"strings"
@@ -32,9 +31,6 @@ func setup(c *caddy.Controller) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return plugin.Error("traffic", err)
 	}
-	if _, err := json.Marshal(lbTXT); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal grpc serverConfig: %s", err)
-	}
 
 	dnsserver.GetConfig(c).AddPlugin(func(next plugin.Handler) plugin.Handler {
 		t.Next = next
diff --git a/plugin/traffic/setup_test.go b/plugin/traffic/setup_test.go
index d2e1ec0d2..a14e49ff6 100644
--- a/plugin/traffic/setup_test.go
+++ b/plugin/traffic/setup_test.go
@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@ func TestSetup(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestLBTxt(t *testing.T) {
-	_, err := json.Marshal(lbTXT)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Failed to marshal grpc serverConfig: %s", err)
-	}
-	if len(lbTXT) > 255 {
-		t.Fatalf("Too long grpc serverConfig (>255): %d", len(lbTXT))
+	for _, txt := range []string{lbTXTxds, lbTXTgrpc} {
+		if _, err := json.Marshal(txt); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Failed to marshal grpc serverConfig: %s", err)
+		}
+		if len(txt) > 255 {
+			t.Errorf("Too long grpc serverConfig (>255): %d", len(txt))
+		}
 	}
 }