Cutting hay and sycamore

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AWinter

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I’ve been offered a hay field that hasn’t been sprayed for years and they cut hay off it every year.

I can see a lot of buttercup but also a diverse range of grasses. The odd bit of hogweed which I’m assuming I need to pull?

My main concern is the fence line is full of sycamore trees, is this a concern in terms of cutting hay? The grass is too long to see any saplings. Would obviously want to cut before the seeds drop but not sure when that is.

Any advice welcome.
 
Our hay fields are surrounded by sycamore trees. Last year was particularly bad for them so they cut the bales closest to the trees and made round bales which weren’t used for horses and the rest was cut as usual into square bales. Nothing has ever died and the fields have been cut for hay for years and years, I can honestly say I’ve never seen any seed pods in the hay in the last 10 years.
 
My neighbour's hayfield also has a couple of sycamores lining it, I walked it in April when the grass was beginning to get going and was quite surprised that I couldn't find even one sapling. I understand the worry completely though.
 
One seed can kill a horse depends how potent they are the vet told my friend. Her horse died. The seeds can travel for up to 10 miles. Yes they get into hay and some get poisoned this way. I think you can get them tested.

We have had a couple of rescues in with it, one made it, one didn't.
 
Ithink farmers have things they can spray on to kill sycamore seedlings etc. The seeds won’t start falling again until autumn - usually when we get out first seasonal storm with strong winds.
 
The farmer who sprayed my field this year said it would kill off the sycamore trees that are trying to grow in my field.

He was right all the trees trying to sprout have died off bit it is a constant battle as I am opposite a wood that is full of them.
 
im on the fence with this. Weve grazed and made haylage from the same fields for 11 years and never had one issue . The only time ive heard of an issue was at a local yard, one horse died. Turns out that someone had cut some sycamore branches down and left them in the field. The horse had eaten them/stripped bark etc.

Friends of mine have also found samplings in their grazing, grazed the same fields for years and never had an issue.

Vet told me you would need at least 20 saplings to be eaten , but all needed to be toxic. Some samplings are and some arent. Even from the same tree.
 
I can’t find any saplings even right under the trees, it did have sheep on it for a few weeks in April so perhaps they’ve eaten them.

I’m more concerned about the seeds dropping before we cut it. I won’t take any bales from right under the trees.

So stressful.
 
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