Do you get every single sycamore seed of your land?

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Patchworkpony

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Question for those surrounded by these awful trees - do you manage to pick up every single seed from your land if you are near sycamores? We have sycamores on a neighbour's land across the road so that when it's windy we get a few dozen fly in. It is extremely difficult to be sure we've picked up every seed and I worry about the one's we may have missed. Do you think the odd seed is dangerous or do horses need to eat lots before they get ill. No one seems to really know. The same seeds blow into a neighbouring paddock where there are six horses, including young stock, and they seem fine. I can't decide whether I am being over the top or just really caring. I won't get any ponies now in case I kill them - all our land seems to border overgrown sycamore hedges which now of course shed seeds.
 
That's an impossible task. We are surrounded by sycamores, have been for 50 years (more, actually), and I'm afraid I will have to go with the fate option - as in there has never been a problem, and if there is we will just have to deal with it.
 
I think, just do your best. You have to be realistic and few people are fortunate enough to keep horses in genuinely perfect circumstances. Do what you can with the hours of the day you've got to work with. My paddock's got 2 sycamores beside it. I have an industrial leaf blower but it doesn't shift them all, plus leaf blowing a whole field every day would only be possible if I didn't have to work or sleep, lol. Speaking for myself, though, I couldn't just leave them all and hope for the best, I have to try and keep on top of them to whatever extent I can.
 
There are billions of these on my land from a neighbour's trees. I have spent days picking them up, crawling on my hands and knees, to no avail. The next time the wind blows there are more. I am afraid it is impossible to gather them so I fence of the area as best I can.When the horses graze it, usually Jan, Feb the seeds are under the grass and by the time it is spring and they should be growing most have been trampled into the mud and rotted. I still pull up as many as I can that I see growing. I am stuck with these as neighbour refuses to fell any trees however old, dangerous or poisonous they are.
 
The sycamore, although not native to the uk, has been here since the Middle Ages. So, either we've got better at recognising the danger or it's a change of management of our horses (more restricted grazing?) that's causing the problems?
 
I'm in a similar position to Cortez, totally surrounded by the things and picking up the seeds would be an impossible task. My neighbour has ponies (and donkeys) and has never heard of AM and doesn't believe me that sycamores are any threat to horses so his graze right around the trees in autumn and so far (touch wood) no problems.

I do try and manage the risk, I have one small totally sycamore-free paddock down the road and they spend the autumn there. If I am restricting their grazing or there has been a heavy fall of seeds then I fence off the worse end of the paddock, and we spray
off the seedlings.

We are gradually cutting down the sycamores on our land and chopping back the overhanging branches, but there will always be seeds blown in from across the road. My neighbours do cut some of those down too for firewood when they have the time (they are growing around derelict buildings) but I doubt they'll ever be fully cleared as the ownership is really complex (a cluster of five buildings and each are owned by different people, some of which no longer live locally).
 
Slightly Foxed said:
The sycamore, although not native to the uk, has been here since the Middle Ages. So, either we've got better at recognising the danger or it's a change of management of our horses (more restricted grazing?) that's causing the problems?
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or something has changed with the sycamores, there is evidence that weather conditions play a big part in the amount of toxin in the seeds (warm, wet weather in autumn makes them much more toxic).
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. It does seem almost impossible to avoid these wretched trees in some areas. I agree that lots of horses get away with contact with seeds but some don't and can die a horrible death. I suppose we can only do our best but it does seem like an impossible task.
 
We rely on our sheep to eat the seeds and, if they miss any, the seedlings. They do such a good job that the only seedlings I have seen in over 20 yrs have been on the yard - and we pull those up!
 
I normally have a few handfuls of seeds blow in.
This year I have picked up barrow loads. No leaves, and I can't actually see any trees nearby so they clearly are blown maybe 400-500meters from somewhere.
I hand pick what i can,but it's impossible to get them all.
I have 4 acres and the seeds cover most of them this year. Normally, it's been just one, one acre field with the odd stray seed. This year, it's all 4 acres and lots of seeds everywhere. Luckily, my grass is short so the seeds are easier to see.
But, all you can do is eliminate as much of the risk as humanly possible with the time and means you have.
So little is known about the disease that you have to go with reducing the risk and hope that's enough.
 
We have one tree on the land I keep mine on but lots on land other side of the road so the damn things blow everywhere! Mine also have access to acres of grazing so just not possible to pick seeds up. I manage by ensuring they never graze poor pasture, all in full work anyway so no need to restrict grass intake. This time of year they are in from 7pm to 7am and in the spring /summer they are stabled for approx 6-8 hours during day time so they always have periods of time where they are eating haylage rather than grazing and have a hard feed each day. The research I've read seems to suggest feeding hay/hard feed rather than 24/7 at grass is beneficial
 
Patchworkpony said:
Question for those surrounded by these awful trees - do you manage to pick up every single seed from your land if you are near sycamores? We have sycamores on a neighbour's land across the road so that when it's windy we get a few dozen fly in. It is extremely difficult to be sure we've picked up every seed and I worry about the one's we may have missed. Do you think the odd seed is dangerous or do horses need to eat lots before they get ill. No one seems to really know. The same seeds blow into a neighbouring paddock where there are six horses, including young stock, and they seem fine. I can't decide whether I am being over the top or just really caring. I won't get any ponies now in case I kill them - all our land seems to border overgrown sycamore hedges which now of course shed seeds.
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No we don't- we just do what we can as it is impossible to guarantee every seeed gone
 
So this situation came up on our yard . .YO went into action same weekend with A 'chain saw' and cut the Teresa down and out of the hedge line.

I was wondering, what would make a horse or pony eat one of these seeds . . Hunger / lacking nutrients in their diet? . . . Hence . . on these frosty mornings, I am ensuring not only does my horse have a good breakfast, but also some piles of hay! . . this way I am crossing fingers he does not want to eat any toxic seeds blown in the field . .

Hopefully the above will help?
 
I heard of a case recently of a horse that was in at night, on good grazing with hay supplied dying of it. We just don't know enough about what causes it, but I suspect many grass sickness deaths were actually down to AM in the past.

I'm sure I haven't picked every single seed up, although the wind was kind to is this year and we've barely had any. I do think it's important to put in into perspective. The recorded cases ads still minuscule compared to the numbers of horses in this country. I think there's a small risk if you are taking steps to remove them, but I refuse to panic about it.
 
I have them in my field - there's not much I can do about it. It crosses my mind sometimes but I don't fret over it. I know there is a risk but I have to put it into perspective. Obviously I'd be happier if the sycamores weren't there but I can't go chopping down other people's trees just because my pony is there. She's fed ad lib hay at night and has hay in the field too.
 
No, at all. In fact despite having three trees I couldn't pick up many at all. We fenced them off until it rained and the ground got softer. I think they'll all be stamped in by now, we do pull up seedlings in the spring though (or should I say, we pay our kids to pull them!)
 
meleeka said:
I heard of a case recently of a horse that was in at night, on good grazing with hay supplied dying of it. We just don't know enough about what causes it, but I suspect many grass sickness deaths were actually down to AM in the past.
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EAM is not the main/sole reason my horses routine is as it is but given current veterinary advice suggests this practice could reduce risk factors, I probably won't change this based on a single case
 
Should add that one of our ponies got into the fenced off 'sycamore zone' and when I went to get him seemed to be crunching them in his teeth! He gave me a sleepless night, but thankfully was fine!
 
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We have one huge sycamore on our land that has been grazed by horses for what must be the best part of 20 years now and never had any issues with it but since i was made aware of AM only a few years ago (through this forum) we have shifted how we graze the land surrounding it, we pick up what we can but obviously not everything will be caught. I would like to see some real investigation into the issue as it is obviously a very real problem but how/why/has it always bin and just unrecognised/shift in weather? What!? More research is desperately needed

I will add that one of my cobs and one of my friends will scoff the fallen leaves at any opportunity, they love them! (None of the other touch them) despite the grass and adlib hay and neither have ever, so far, even had an 'off' day let alone been actually sick
 
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I think it is not so much that not a huge number of horses have died from AM but that there is no set pattern. Some can happily eat the seeds while others die. We all know that is a horse eats yew it will die but not every horse will die from eating sycamore seeds and this is what makes the whole scenario so confusing. If only someone could tell us what factors make the difference between life and death. There are a few theories out there but none are particularly proven - we are all groping about in the dark with this problem. A farrier I know told me about one of his clients who scoffed at the whole idea of sycamore seeds being deadly to horses - this was on the Monday while he was shoeing the client's horse. By the Thursday the horse was dead from AM.
 
I'm with Cortez on this one. My land is surrounded by them and my dad is getting through them (for the log burner you know) but some are not coming down so I just have to leave them to it and I don't put them in the small paddock in peak seasons.
 
I'm worried about this. Have a lot of seedlings this year. I'm hand pulling them but won't get everyone. Not able to cut down trees and no choice but to use grazing.
Any tips on best way of getting rid of them.
 
Please refer to page 14 of Horse and Hound 23 February 2017 as there is a new subsidised test available for £50.00. You send the sycamore seeds to the comparative nuromuscular diseases laboratory at the Royal Veterinary College and they will tell you if the seeds from a particular tree or trees contain the hypoglycin toxin.
 
PeterNatt said:
Please refer to page 14 of Horse and Hound 23 February 2017 as there is a new subsidised test available for £50.00. You send the sycamore seeds to the comparative nuromuscular diseases laboratory at the Royal Veterinary College and they will tell you if the seeds from a particular tree or trees contain the hypoglycin toxin.
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Thanks, yes I've seen the test and started a thread about it. Trouble is there are several trees and there is no way of knowing which seeds and which seedlings come from which tree. Also it seems that the results take 4 weeks to come back.
 
I have been very lucky this year and last, but before that they were everywhere. I made a pen that I cleared and then strip grazed every day, clearing as I went. It meant it wasn't a huge job and they still had turnout, albeit restricted in the space they had. When more blew down it was easier as the grass was very short so I'd clear it in the morning before they went out.
 
We are surrounded by them and the land owner will not cut them down. I don't try to pick up the seeds and I spray the saplings as they are growing on the spring. It is impossible for me to have grazing that doesn't get seeds on it and the seeds even blow into the boxes so I have no way of keeping the horses away from them. Having said that we have had no problems so far and fingers and toes x that continues.
 
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