Grazon 90 spraying

[Tinypony]

Help me out here. It is my understanding that after spraying you can't allow the horses back on the field while there is wilted or dead ragwort left lying. In fact, it's worse than having living ragwort, because they will avoid that, but find wilted and dead ragwort quite palatable.
So, the only way to make the field safe is to take up all the dead stuff, or leave the field empty until it's rotted right down?
I wish I'd spent a month systematically on the attack with a Rag Fork now, but the landowner wanted to do it this way.

 

[Ashtree]

Basically correct - grazon will kill it but dead ragwort is palatable to horses so you need to collect it once it has died. I used grazon leave it a week and then fork out the ragwort - it does at least come out easier then. Grazon will at least kill the smaller plants which we often don't see.

 

[Tinypony]

How big is your field? This one is about 7 acres!

 

[pinkcatkin]

We are in the same situation! We have 6 acres, half was sprayed last autumn and lay ungrazed for 6 months, we removed all the big dead pieces and the rest rotted away. There is a little coming back and it will need doing a second time I think. The other half of the land is looking dreadful and I was discussing last night what we will do.

Trouble is I cannot afford to lose too much of the grazing for too long.

Doesn't Round Up do it just as well?

 

[Tinypony]

I think that it was decided that the area was too big to spot spray, and unfortunately the deed is done. The person doing the spraying is spreading dangerous mis-information. He told the girls at the yard that it would be fine to put the horses back on to the sprayed field today, after 4 weeks. The ragwort is all over the place, wilted and still green. Meanwhile the horses are on the other unsprayed field, which is running out of grass.
The latest is that we have been told to "cut" all the ragwort stalks with flower heads off in the field where the horses are now, leave the rosettes. He will be back in a few weeks to spray this field, by which time we can put the horses into the field full of dead stuff. I'm begging to get out there with my ragfork, but he doesn't want that as he says he needs leaves left to kill the weeds when he sprays.
I'm running out of options. Deadly dying ragwort in one field, grazing running out in the other and the promise that it will be sprayed in a few weeks. Even if we got agreement to leave the current field alone, it hasn't got enough grass to keep the horses going until the other stuff has rotted.
I hope that makes sense, as you can guess, I'm a little bit frazzled.

 

[Rollin]

You do need to spray leaves for weekillers to work, cutting off the flower heads will stop the ragwort setting seed. You will have much better grazing in the long run.

Will your landowner top the field with dying ragwort? Then you can rake it into a pile and burn it or better still rake it up with a small harrow?

 

[Tinypony]

I can but ask Rollin, thanks for the reply. I've always dug it up in previous grazing, I actually find it quite satisfying.