Buttercups - Fact or Fiction?

Ludi-doodi

Ludi-doodi

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Before anyone else says it I know they are Fact and that they exist!
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Anyhoo! What I want to know is are they dangerous for horses and why? Walking through our field this morning I noticed that we have quite a lot and before I go all guns blazing at the YO, I want a clear up a nagging doubt I have in the back of my mind that they are not good for horses and to understand why.

Our fields are no where near as bad as I've seen some where you can can't see the green grass for yellow flowers, but we do have more than I've seen before.
 
I never really thought about it before until I got my mare, if she goes anywhere near a field with buttercups she gets buttercup burns all around her mouth which come up like big open, welted sores and leave scars. Luckily she is grey with a pink nose so they don't show up hugely but she is very distressed when she gets them - so definately fact enough for me - however never had any other problems in the past and not sre 'why' they are bad.
 
Depends how many they eat!
I have never had a problem before with them until I strip grazed my good doer mare last year and she ate all of them (greedy girl!)
She looked like she had gone 12 rounds in a boxing ring, her face swelled up like a football, eyes looked like a cartoon character and her lips looked like she had Botox jabs gone wrong!
Antihistamine (sp) jab sorted the problem within a few hours!
Never had a problem with them if there is plenty of grass in field though
 
I saw on the tv that butter cups are inabundance this year due to the weather we are having. We have loads on our grazing. If you look they are everywhere ! Our horses dont seem to touch them and do not have any reaction to them. Ive not heard that buttercups are bad if eaten. !!??
 
When eaten fresh (growing in the field) they are poisonous (don't know how much has to be eaten) most horses do tend to graze round them.

They are not poisonous if cut and dried in hay.

If anyone has real concerns I have a book on poisonous plants relating to horses (need to find in tack room!) which I can type out if needed as that goes into much more detail - the above is just what I remember
 
Our grazing is absolutely rampant this year with them - which is most unusual.

Nothing has turned up it's heals though..........
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so are the fields my horses are kept, but as far as i can see they are eating around them and if they have touched them they havn't had a reaction
 
They are poisonous when fresh, but are very rarely eaten so not generally a problem. The bigger problem with them is with pale faced and thin skinned horses the pollen on them can cause 'buttercup rash' around the nose area as I believe they make them photosensitive.
 
My paddocks are really bad with them this year - even the hay field has a few large patches. I am definitely going to have to get a contractor in to spray them next spring otherwise there wont be any grass at all in the summer paddock!
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I didn't know they were posionous - I have loads in my field and a very sensitive grey and chestnut gelding - would you recommend topping them or cutting them?

Worrying now...
 
Buttercups contain protoanemonin as their principle toxic component and cause CICD - Chemical Irritant Contact Dermatitis. All members of the Ranunculaceae contain it. Protoanemonon forms dimers (two of them join together) to form anemonin, which causes the blistering.
 
Ok Glad I asked before I went off ranting to YO. General consensus is that not a problem unless horse is sensitive to pollen. Will have a chat with YO later in the year to see what she plans for next year's weed killing etc
 
Does anyone know if it's the whole plant that is bad or just the flowers?

My field is full and I'm sure the horses are eating the leaves although they are leaving the flowers.
 
I had my mare in a field of buttercups a few years ago and was "burnt" by them. I took it to be only the flowers that cause the problems?? Poor girlie lost all the fur on her face up to her eyes!!
She is not the pink sensitive type either!!
Thankfully she has never eaten them
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I know that the arent good for horses at all but must admit my horses tend to eat round them and havent really had a problem yet!!!
They also have a very rapid root system that takes over and stops the grass from growing.
There is a new spary that came out a couple years ago especially for them, its very similar to graze on you only need to leave the field for about 14 days then they can go back on it and the buttercups will hopefully be deaded by then
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cant remeber the name of it now
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i will have to check when i go up the yard later.

Debs x
 
I had loads - taking over the field but the nice farmer I rent my fields from came and topped them today and they now look fab. Still I think they will need doing again in a few weeks as I can see lots of short buttercups. I assume the weather last year has lead to all the buttercups as there are loads round me. Ironically my friends fields where my girls have gone for their hols have none and they haven't been weedkilled or anything. This is about 100m up the road from my yard!
 
Blistering on the muzzle is the most common reaction, but some do develop colic if they are pigs and eat lots of them. They can also cause a rash on the heels of some, and it is often mistaken for mud fever. I personally would not graze mine in a buttercup rich field.
 
they can ulscers of the mouth and stomach aswell but they taste bitter to horses so as long as there is grass to eat they should not eat them!
 
Shouldn't is one thing. Horses having the common sense they were born with is another! Some just eat them and seem to like them as they do ragwort, which is also bitter! The one who ate the ragwort also ate buttercups if he could snatch a mouthful out hacking etc - he actually aimed for them! Incidently, his field had the most beautiful grazing going, and he managed to find a ragwort plant inside a prickly hedgerow! Better safe than sorry IMO (says she with the hindsight!)
 
I've got loads of them in the fields I'm renting this year and have just had one of my fields sprayed - will alternate and spray the others when I can use that field again.

Yes very toxic plant - the toxins will build up in the animal's liver and cause cumulative damage over a few years if the animal is always grazed in buttercup infested fields. Over time they can cause diarrhea, colic and also leave your horse susceptible to other toxins as the liver is already compromised. Plus more immediate, as others have mentioned, they can cause rashes, burns and mud fever like reactions in certain horses which can be very serious if the horse isn't removed from the buttercup infested field, and will return if the horse is put back in that same field.

Fortunately buttercups have a bitter taste so horses will avoid eating them, unless grass is sparse and there is nothing else for them to eat. I just don't think it's worth the risk - if you've got buttercups in your fields get rid asap. It's not only the poisonous factor - they spread very quickly and will oust the grass sward very quickly, leaving you with no grass just buttercups. This will also then encourage other weeds to grow, like docks and ragwort.

Buttercups only grow in acid rich soils. As rain has a high acid content and we've had two wet summers, with many fields waterlogged for long periods, many fields have a much higher acid level in the soil than normal - hence the proliferation this year of the pesky yellow weeds. For long term treatment adding lime to fields will lower the acid levels in the soil. Buttercups can't grow in alkaline conditions so if you make your soil alkaline rather than acid then buttercups will not return. You can test the soil yourself very easily by getting a soil tester kit from your local garden centre.

Shorter term weed killer will help, but needs to be done at least two years on the trot to have any lasting effect and should be done before flowering. However even though the buttercups are well in flower it's still worth spraying weedkiller on them, and possibly repeating later in the year. Topping will only serve to make your fields look nicer but won't do anything to stop the spread of the plant - creeping buttercup spreads by roots not by seed, so you need to kill the roots to get rid of the plant. If you're feeling energetic and your fields aren't too massive, you can go round digging it up. Some people put sheep on buttercup infested fields as sheep will eat buttercups and in theory solve your problem. However buttercups are toxic to sheep - not as intensely as horses but can damage or even kill them in large quantities.

Buttercups are underestimated in their seriousness. People worry about ragwort, and rightly so, but buttercups should be taken just as seriously. They may not be as poisonous but they spread much quicker and as most of us have seen can very rapidly spread through an entire field in what feels like the blink of an eye.
 
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Buttercups only grow in acid rich soils. For long term treatment adding lime to fields will lower the acid levels in the soil. Buttercups can't grow in alkaline conditions so if you make your soil alkaline rather than acid then buttercups will not return.

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My fields were heavily limed in the spring and the buttercups are worse than ever. My (non-horsey) landlord has been told that horses contribute to the spread of buttercups - I've protested that that's only because they don't eat them, unlike the sheep that were on the land before! I'm now planning to strim the worst patches to give the grass a chance to fight back. Maybe the lime doesn't kick in till next season?

I sprayed all my docks with Grazon and that had a slight effect on the buttercups but nothing to write home about. I'm relieved to hear that the problem is quite widespread...
 
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