Donkeys and buttercups

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flirtygerty

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Do Donkeys eat buttercups? The reason I ask is that the Donkeys field is the only one not to be overun with buttercups.
If they do swapping fields with them would save using weedkiller.
I await answers with bated breath
 
I think I would pose this one to the Donkey Sanctuary - or go online on the Donkey Breeds Society. Yes Donkeys do eat buttercups, but I am not sure that they are good for them!
 
here is a list of plants that donkeys shouldnt eat ! buttercups being one of many


Worldwide the list of poisonous plants is considerable but some of the most commonly found are listed below:






Yew - taxus species (perhaps the deadliest of them all)





Acacia
Acorns
Anemone (all species)
Beech mast
Bluebell bulbs
Box
Bracken fern
Bog Asphodel
Buttercups
Columbine (Aquilegia)
Common Sorrel
Corn Cockle
Cuckoopint
Daffodil bulbs
Field horsetail
Fireweed


Foxglove
Globe Flower
Greater Celandine
Green Potato sprouts
Hellebores
Hemlock
Hemp
Henbane
Horse Radish leaves and flowering shoots Laburnum
Larkspur
Laurel
lLupin
Mistletoe
Monkshood (Aconite)
Nightshade



Oak leaves
Oleander
Privet

Ragwort
Rhododendron
Snowdrop bulbs
Spearwort
Spindle
St John’s Wort
Thorn apple
Vetchlings
Wild Peas


. . . and many more

link to the site http://www.donkeys.ie/html/questions_answers.htm
Hope this helps
 
Not too long at all, very helpful
But there must be a reason why there's no, or very few buttercups in their field, everywhere else is a sea of buttercups.
Our two horses also can't keep pace with the grass, it's growing faster than they can eat it, resulting in them both getting fat, mind 5 acres for two horses is a lot of grass
 
Just been on the donkey site, buttercups are not mentioned, they may be poisonous plants, but possibly not to donkeys.
More research needed I think, thanks for the info and link
for the moment it's back to the drawing board, I think I will email a donkey sanctuary
 
It is related to past management, including last year, and spring, for example it sounds as though the grass might be overgrazed by one type of animal, maybe if you can rest it, weedkiller and fertiliser, so that the grass gets a spurt and the weeds get a knock back. Maybe get a few sheep on from time to time.
 
I know very little about land management, apart from the obvious keep some grass for winter, we have been sectioning the field off at times when there wasn't a lot of grass, keeping them off the main field through the winter, now my logic is let them have the lot for now, since the grass is growing at a horrific rate and at least they are moving.
Right now I would rather have no grass and have to feed hay than cope with knee high grass, I have really never seen my lad's stockings so white
As far as I am aware, there have been goats, donkeys and cattle on the land
 
Hi FlirtyGerty, as a seasoned donkey owner I think it is a really really good idea to have a look at the Donkey Santuary sheets on keeping donkeys.

Most donkeys in the UK are either laminitic or sub-laminitic due to the fact that they are desert animals by nature and even bad English grass is far too lush, so probably a good idea to really restrict the grazing at the moment. Keep a really good eye on their neck crests, as if they get them they are difficult to get rid of and can look quite grotesque if they really develop.

The nearest commercial product to the 'desert scrub' they eat is straw. As recommended mine have ad-lib barley straw all year round, with limited access to grass in the Summer. (I feed mine in a hayhutch, seems to keep them amused and a bale lasts 2 donkeys about 3 days or so).

Anyway, as I say, heaps of very good advice on the Donkey Sanctuary website - or if you ring them they always give excellent advice- or by all means PM me!
 
Thanks for that Canteron, so I would be doing the donkeys no favours by giving them our lush grass. Might contact our local recue and foster a couple of equines that need feeding up and restrict ours, this is a no win situation, I don;t want to use weedkiller because of the local wildlife etc, but we have too many buttercups, too much grass and not enough hours in the day
 
I think we are all in the same boat!! The garden, the lawn and the fields are all running away, they are so lush.

I am going to contact the local farmer and see whether he can top my fields over the next few days.
 
flirtygerty said:
Thanks for that Canteron, so I would be doing the donkeys no favours by giving them our lush grass. Might contact our local recue and foster a couple of equines that need feeding up and restrict ours, this is a no win situation, I don;t want to use weedkiller because of the local wildlife etc, but we have too many buttercups, too much grass and not enough hours in the day
Click to expand...
The weedkiller for buttercups works on the growth hormones, it is selective so does not kill everything like the nasty weedkillers, it won't kill wildlife. I would not hesitate to use it on buttercups.
Maybe a farmer would do it for you as he will be geared up for this.
 
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