Can you help identify these weeds?!

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kat2290

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Hello! I am a new user and this is my first post :) I am awaiting the arrival of two gorgeous miniature shetlands at some point in October and am wanting to sort my field out a bit before they arrive. We've had two llamas grazing the field for about 6 months and whilst they have got the grass down quite substantially there are large areas of the field which they have not touched, I think mainly because they aren't keen on the weeds which are growing there.

In the untouched areas of the field the grass is knee high, theres a wide variety of grasses growing and amongst that are nettles, thistles, dock and a fair bit of buttercup. I'm going to remove the buttercup as best I can as I believe its poisonous? What about the dock - I'm not sure if its poisonous to horses so is it worth removing? Hopefully the ponies will enjoy the nettles and thistle so I'll be leaving that in.

In the well grazed areas of the garden there are now masses of plants at rosette stage which I can't identify - I was hoping somebody here could! The first two pictures are of the same plant in different stages, the third is a different plant (is it Milk Thistle?). The leaves of plant in the first two pics are soft and fuzzy, not smooth and waxy if that helps?!
http://s1058.photobucket.com/albums/t411/kat22901/?action=view&current=3d095be5.jpg
http://s1058.photobucket.com/albums/t411/kat22901/?action=view&current=81b4406e.jpg
http://s1058.photobucket.com/albums/t411/kat22901/?action=view&current=ea2035ca.jpg
My question is, are they poisonous and do they need removing?

Anyways sorry for this long and rambling post, it will probably be the first of many :D
 
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lurcher98 said:
Second one (in album) looks like hogweed ,the sap can cause a skin reaction .
Click to expand...

i agree and it is horrible,it has flowers like cow parsley but is later in the year and has different stems(with purple spot) .it can cause sunburn and cracked noses on grazing horses and if you strim it,the sap flies off and burns you.
 
Yep just reading up on it know, sounds horrible! Going to get stuck in to a bit of field managment tonight, my main plan of attack being digging things up at the roots...this will probably last all of 30 mins! Are there any natural ways to try and get rid of invasive weeds, I've read somewhere about putting salt on to cut stems - not sure if this is a myth though?!
 
The second one is definitely Hog Weed, and it's the favourite food of caged rabbits, and horses. It's very good for both of them.

I've picked it a thousand times or more, over the years, and fed it to horses as a titbit, they love it!! I've have never had a rash or any reaction to it. Strange that others have.

Alec.

PS. Sheep love it too!! a.
 
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I don't think any of them are giant hogweed (which is the dangerous alien invader - has the same basic look and umbilifera flowers of the harmless tasty cow parsley etc. but gets much bigger and invasive and is indeed poisonous/toxic/itchy sap). I think You've got the soft fuzzy sided broad leaf weed that we have - I'm not sure of the name (even the colloquial one), but it is much liked by my animals, and I think the other one is probably cow parsley/cow mumble again often liked by grazers.

N.B. The 'berry' on the first shot - I don't think it's from the pictured plant, but whatever it came off I'd be more concerned about as it looks like a deadly nightshade berry and that is probably best removed. - Thinish pointy green leaves
 
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Alec Swan said:
It's very good for both of them.

I've picked it a thousand times or more, over the years, and fed it to horses as a titbit, they love it!! I've have never had a rash or any reaction to it. Strange that others have.

Alec.
Click to expand...


!!!! PLEASE READ........,it`s hogweed,i never said giant hogweed and is not to be confused with cowparsley. IT CAUSES PHOTOSENSIVTIVITY AND LIVER DAMAGE !!!!!
 
Ahh this is so confusing! I agree that I think 'Weed 1' (not sure which pic) is mallow, in fact I'm pretty sure I've had to identify it before when feeding my tortoise but forgot what it was - duh!
'Weed 2' I'm pretty sure is Hogweed after looking at numerous images of it online but I don't think it is the giant variety. We've had it growing in the field for a number of years and I've never seen it taller than 3ft.
So, if it's just the common variety is that poisonous or not? I seem to be finding a lot of conflicting advice when I google it!

@Backridingagain - The berry in the picture is actually the bud of that plant, which is what made me think it was milkthistle.
 
Also now getting confused between Cow Parsley and Cow Parsnip, does anybody have any images of the two different plants? Is cow parsnip just another name for Hogweed?!

:confused:
 
Thanks for that :)

Had another look around tonight and have established that we also have Knapweed and Water Mint growing, neither of which are poisonous, and we definitely don't have any Hemlock just tons of Hogweed. So although the Hogweed isn't brill I'm feeling a lot better about the field in general :)
 
Common hogweed is fine, doesn't cause a rash or burn as Alec said above. You can eat the young shoots (can find recipes online) and my horse selectively eats it with no bother - I've no idea why, but he's not dead yet! :D
 
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