Help.....massive ragwort problem.

G

gem2buc

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 June 2008
Messages
112
Location
Southampton
Visit site
I have recently aquired a 5 acre field which I have sectioned off into 5 paddocks for my 3 horses. There has been the odd bit of ragwort in the paddocks they have been over the last 3 months; but this has been fairly manageable. I was aware of ragwort in the furthest part of the field and did a bit of spot killing earlier in the year. The grass has since grown knee high and as I was about to move the horses into this paddock over the weekend; I walked around the field first to check the extent of the problem and soon found that there is Ragwort EVERYWHERE. It is not too obvious as first glance; as only a couple are flowering and there are hidden amongst the grass. I found it impossible to pull (after 4 hours of bad back and hand blisters) and I also managed to snap the stems from some of the hundreds of little tiny ones growing up that are too weak to de-root. I know that the best solution is to use some kind of herbicide; but I am at odds as to how to do this with such long grass (some has been trampled in my efforts to manage this myself). Is my best option to top and then spray? What do I do with the cut grass ad weeds? What about timing? Type of hebicide to use? HELP!
 
You could get someone to mow it, round bale it and then stack the bales in a corner and leave them. Its probably a bit late to spray the ragwort now, it may be better to wait until its at rosette stage next year and then hit it hard with a recommended spray.
 
ask your friendly local farmer...!
tbh if there is lots of grass in there i would put horses in, they won't eat growing ragwort IF there is lots of nice tasty grass to eat instead. then, when they've eaten most of the grass off, i would either get it topped or sprayed with herbicide, whichever the farmer advises.
 
Dear god K! I wouldn't put horses in! You can never say for certain that a horse won't eat ragwort and if you have ever seen and tried to help a rescued horse with monstrous ragwort damage to the liver you'd understand how dangerous that advice can be.
 
QR- try one of the ragwart forks or just a hand trowel. That's what I used and I had ten acres to do! All gone now and I'm nearly walking upright again
smile.gif
Remember to always wear gloves and if you're doing lots of it then a mask as ragwart will poison us too and can enter the bloodstream through the skin.

I wouldn't put a horse in a field with ragwart regardless of the grass situ. I can't remember his name off the top of my head but the vet/nutritionalist that writes montly in Equi-ads wrote an article about it last year. Basically he said horses don't always "know" what they are eating and don't self-medicate. There were pictures and examples of horses with ragwart poisoning who were in fields with ample grass yet had still eaten it. It's not a risk I would take, sorry.
 
okay, i stand corrected. certainly none of mine has ever eaten growing ragwort - they've bitten it off, twice ever in about 20 years (!) and spat the whole thing out immediately.
i'm sorry, but i am convinced that horses know exactly what they are eating. i fed one of my mares a feed once and found a tiny snail, alive and undamaged, in the bottom of the bucket just after she'd finished.
they self-medicate if given the chance. they aren't stupid. BUT they'll eat ragwort if starving hungry.
 
I have to agree with you Kerilli - we have some small amount of ragwort in your field this year and I haven't done anything about it because there is so much grass they just don't bother with the ragwort.

I plan to spray the entire premises next spring (and keep them off it for at least a couple of weeks) and then perhaps re-do as required to become fully ragwort free.

(I always dig up all ragwort on the starvation paddock for obvious reasons!)
 
There have been some reports of horses becoming addicted to it & apparently seeking it out despite having plenty of grass. I thinks it's pretty rare though & the vast majority will only eat it live ragwort if there is nothing else. The thing I always worry about though, is that if they tread it down & it dies off it stops tasting horrid.
 
There are loads of really tiny ragwort plants in the field - so pulling is not really an option for these - they just seem to break and there really is far too many. I would not trust my horses in there - particuarly as they are all quite young and experimental. I would also never forgive myself if anything happened to them. What would happen if I leave it over the winter - will ragwort die back down and grow from rosettes again in the spring?
 
[ QUOTE ]
There are loads of really tiny ragwort plants in the field - so pulling is not really an option for these - they just seem to break and there really is far too many. I would not trust my horses in there - particuarly as they are all quite young and experimental. I would also never forgive myself if anything happened to them. What would happen if I leave it over the winter - will ragwort die back down and grow from rosettes again in the spring?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but it will have seeded in the mean time.
 
Ragwort has a 2-year cycle. First year, the plants only grow to the rosette stage. Second year, they produce the typical tall stems, flowers and seeds. So in any one year you will see a squillion rosettes growing quietly ready for next year AND a squillion more mature plants happily seeding all over your land and your neighbours for miles around. Can't remember the numbers in detail but it's academic really: one mature ragwort plant produces something like 25,000 seeds. Even if you are willing to gamble on the horse not eating ragwort, next year you will have twice as many plants and the year after that twice as many again etc etc etc.

So will your neighbours and their horses.
 
My fields are surrounded on 3 sides by land full of ragwort - an 'organic farmer' owns them and has decided to let the gress seed naturally + the flaming ragwort in it! Despite the fact that it is classified an an injurious weed I have completely failed to get any action freom DEFRA or the local council!

For me, ragwort digging is a daily task along with poo picking!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top