How many sycamore seeds are you really able to pick up?

[Patchworkpony]

How many sycamore seeds are you really able to pick up from your fields? I think it is impossible to get every single seed, especially when they split in half and drop down vertically into the grass. If you manage to collect 99% that still leaves 1% to kill your horse. So what is one to do - discount grazing any land near sycamores, keep your horse in or simply take a chance? I think this is a no win scenario for anyone keeping horses near these wretched trees but maybe there is a solution and we just haven't thought of it yet. What can land owners do in this situation? Not everyone has the choice of alternative turnout.

 

[Evie91]

I just do what I can- my paddock is lined with sycamores down one side. My smaller paddock has them smack bang in the middle. Smaller paddock is closed off.
In the larger paddock they are fenced off but the leaves and seeds blow all over the grazing. Until this year I'd didn't know sycamores where a risk, found out after I spent thousands of pounds moving retired horse home! I only have a couple of acres too although currently doing well for grass.

My husband mows where the leaves fall weekly to try and get most of them up - seems to have been a mast year for seeds though as they are everywhere.
I feed hay in the paddock, horses have hard feed and come in overnight. My vet says I'm doing as much as I can.
It's a huge worry - never thought I'd say this but roll on winter!
Sycamore seems the most prevalent tree in our local area - roads are lined with them!

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

We are lucky that we do have plenty of grazing to rotate and move around our ponies. I was going to move two of them today but as always do a field check beforehand. I'd never looked for sycamore before and there are two big ones which have been dropping. There's plenty of grass but I am not willing to take the risk.

There is a company near us that were offering a vaccum service last year. I am going to look them up and see if they could come and do the field before I think about using it.

 

[Equi]

I've got three of them and they thankfully seem to blow into the yard rather than the field and I've not seen any seeds in the field - the horses generally don't graze near them anyway so I've not been doing anything other than check the field for seeds and tell my dad to get the chainsaw out.

 

[Joeyjojo]

Its impossible to get them all, but I'm just trying to get as many as I can! All my fields have at least one sycamore in or around them so I have no choice but to turnout in fields that have seeds. I'm managing it by strip grazing so I can clear the new strip of seeds before letting them on it. It seems more manageable that way, although still probably means I spend an hour each day picking up seeds. I'm doing this by hand as you would need a very powerful vacuum to get the seeds out of anything other than very short grass. My handheld petrol one does not make any difference as the seeds are just stuck in the grass.

Whilst no-one knows exactly what it is that gives them AM, I am working on the theory that its not one seed, but lots that will poison a horse. So my management is to remove as many as I can and limit the time they are out there (stabled from 4pm - 8am) so that even if they are eating them, its not enough to hurt hopefully!

Has anyone found a good way of getting up the seeds - is a ride on mower with collector any good?

 

[Equi]

Its impossible to get them all, but I'm just trying to get as many as I can! All my fields have at least one sycamore in or around them so I have no choice but to turnout in fields that have seeds. I'm managing it by strip grazing so I can clear the new strip of seeds before letting them on it. It seems more manageable that way, although still probably means I spend an hour each day picking up seeds. I'm doing this by hand as you would need a very powerful vacuum to get the seeds out of anything other than very short grass. My handheld petrol one does not make any difference as the seeds are just stuck in the grass.

Whilst no-one knows exactly what it is that gives them AM, I am working on the theory that its not one seed, but lots that will poison a horse. So my management is to remove as many as I can and limit the time they are out there (stabled from 4pm - 8am) so that even if they are eating them, its not enough to hurt hopefully!

Has anyone found a good way of getting up the seeds - is a ride on mower with collector any good?

A sucky leaf blower appears to be good

 

[[59851]]

Mine hays plenty of grass and plenty of hay and interestingly enough doesn't seem to graze around the sycamore tree. She will have to take her chances as I literally have nowhere else to put her, but seeing as she's in her 20's, and has been out there years it's a chance I shall take.....yes I'm a crap owner, say what you like, but there it is. I don't have time to go around collecting seeds. And they still have yet to prove a 100% definate link to AM and these trees.

 

[Joeyjojo]

A sucky leaf blower appears to be good

I've got one of those and it doesn't seem to get them in the long grass - what's your technique? Maybe I'm just doing it wrong!!

 

[cptrayes]

Mine hays plenty of grass and plenty of hay and interestingly enough doesn't seem to graze around the sycamore tree. She will have to take her chances as I literally have nowhere else to put her, but seeing as she's in her 20's, and has been out there years it's a chance I shall take.....yes I'm a crap owner, say what you like, but there it is. I don't have time to go around collecting seeds. And they still have yet to prove a 100% definate link to AM and these trees.

You aren't a bad owner and I thank my lucky stars I have none of these trees, but they are sure that the toxin is hypoglycin-A and they know some parts of some sycamore trees have it.

 

[cptrayes]

From Hairy Cob on my thread about AM. She lost one to it this spring and the other has been in recovery since being saved the vet hospital.



We know that hypoglycin A can be found in the seeds & the young seedlings of sycamore (probably the cotyledon leaves rather than the true leaves).
We know it isn't present in all seeds, just some & that huge variations can occur between the seeds on just one tree.
We don't know whether other acers are a risk.
We don't know whether the toxin can leach into the soil.
We don't know why some seeds produce the toxin & others don't.
We don't know why some horses on the same pasture are unaffected.




.....

 

[Patchworkpony]

These trees have now thrown a long shadow over horse keeping because the seeds can travel so far - I have seeds lying round my back door from sycamores that are nowhere near the house. Even if you can pick them all up it is so time consuming. If only there was a cure for AM - but maybe that will come.

 

[Patchworkpony]

I was picking some lush grass from our field yesterday for the guinea pigs when I found to my horror that there were two sycamore seeds in a small handful of grass and I hadn't even noticed them on the ground. How on earth then can anyone pick up every single seed? Even vigilant mowing or sucking isn't going to eradicate those seeds that are buried deep in the grass.

 

[charlie76]

Patchworkpony. I feel your stress and worry as I only have two trees of which I've fenced them off miles from the trees. I still check the while field and I find a few everyday.
I think all we can do is try our best, pick up as many as you can and try not to worry too much. Sadly you can't protect them for everything. The only other choice is to keep them in 24\7 but then something else will affect bthem, behavior issues,colic etc .
I think to be really careful and to have the best of both worlds you can do the following
Turn out for no more than six hours
Make sure they are fenced off
Pick up as many as you can
Give hay in hay nets if grass is short
Give hay when in the stable

My vet said that if you do the above then that should be sufficient to help it not happen to you, no guarantees of course but at least you know you have tried.

 

[Patchworkpony]

I think the only compromise for us is to have a small play area, with hard standing, attached to the stable yard, where the ponies (small ones) live and make sure every seed is picked in that area several times a day until there are none left on the trees and leave the sheep to pick up the ones we miss in the field over the winter. In addition of course lots of exercise for ponies but not in the field. Not the way I want to keep ponies but it's either that or give them up - I certainly couldn't risk losing them. These b***** sycamores they really are spoiling the pleasure of keeping horses for so many people.

 

[D66]

We have sycamores in one of our fields that have been grazed by horses for 37 years. None have died of AM. Luckily we have a sycamore free field we can put the horses in for the autumn. So, I shall mow the area under the trees to remove seedlings before it is grazed again - we may also put some sheep in there ( if they are unaffected by the toxin) for a week.
If a single seed is going to poison a horse they won't be safe anywhere. Strip grazing away from the trees sounds like a good idea.

 

[flaxen tail]

Is one seed all it takes ?

 

[Spring Feather]

Mine hays plenty of grass and plenty of hay and interestingly enough doesn't seem to graze around the sycamore tree. She will have to take her chances as I literally have nowhere else to put her, but seeing as she's in her 20's, and has been out there years it's a chance I shall take.....yes I'm a crap owner, say what you like, but there it is. I don't have time to go around collecting seeds. And they still have yet to prove a 100% definate link to AM and these trees.

I live in Canada so obviously there are literally loads and loads of maple trees here, including Sycamore Maples. Most horse people over here are fully aware of the concerns over maple seeds but most deal with it in the same way as you (as do I). I have large fields on my farm and I feed hay ad-lib 24/7/365 and we've never had an incident. Of course it could happen, but so could many other things.

 

[thatsmygirl]

Mine hays plenty of grass and plenty of hay and interestingly enough doesn't seem to graze around the sycamore tree. She will have to take her chances as I literally have nowhere else to put her, but seeing as she's in her 20's, and has been out there years it's a chance I shall take.....yes I'm a crap owner, say what you like, but there it is. I don't have time to go around collecting seeds. And they still have yet to prove a 100% definate link to AM and these trees.

Your not a bad owner and I think the same, iv got no choice to use the field I do so they can take the risk but all seeds seem to fly out the field. I try not to worry as anything could happen tomoz

 

[Toffee_monster]

We had one sycamore and it fell down in the wind, i found the horses stood munching happily on it i cleared as much as i could but i also have no where else for them nthis was 6 weeks ago now

So many people have grazed sycamore infested ground for many years without problems, its strange. But i do think that nowadays there are so many risks, keep them in too much they get ulcers, keep them out too much they might get colic, keep them in too much they might get colic, Now AM ........ It might be awful to say but they are going to die of something something will get us all in the end

 

[skint1]

I wanted to bump this thread up again because I lost my mare this week to EAM. I thought all the same things as many on here, yes, they are all going to die of something but this is perhaps one of the worst ways I can imagine.

She had an episode in November where she ended up in hospital but EAM could not be confirmed so it was put down to a respiratory infection She had been in the same field at the same yard for years with no problem, and so had all the other horses. There were seeds and seedlings in the field and I under estimated the risk and she paid for it in the most awful way.

The horrible and depressing thing is that sycamores are everywhere, they blow for miles, the seedlings are small, the helicopters are smaller still, I don't know what the answer is but I hope that as a community we can find a way to manage this new and all prevailing risk

 

[Sandstone1]

I'm so sorry. I'm very worried about sycamore seedlings especially as we have trees near us.

 

[milliepops]

The horrible and depressing thing is that sycamores are everywhere, they blow for miles, the seedlings are small, the helicopters are smaller still, I don't know what the answer is but I hope that as a community we can find a way to manage this new and all prevailing risk

It's just awful isn't it. So, so sorry to hear about your mare. It's so frightening I've picked literally thousands of the blasted things over the last few weeks and I see them in my sleep now. We have to be so vigilant

 

[Trules]

Hi there, my OH noticed last night there are seeds in my field.
I really genuinely don't understand why problem this has only really come to light in the last year or so, when horses and sycamores have been around for a lot longer? I have had horses in my field for 6 years with no problems, and now I feel I need to worry about it. can someone tell me why this is? I genuinely need to know.

 

[milliepops]

I don't know Trules, my horses have always lived around sycamores too, indeed my mare has a taste for the full grown leaves (which is why I am obsessive over the seedlings). Perhaps previously the deaths were attributed to grass sickness which IIRC is not fully understood, or something like that?

 

[skint1]

I am not sure that anyone has a definite answer as to why this is a problem now and not before, maybe the sycamore is adapting to our changing climate, but perhaps there are other reasons

 

[Patchworkpony]

Hi there, my OH noticed last night there are seeds in my field.

That's awful Trules have you any trees near you or have they simply blown a long way on the wind?

 

[Patchworkpony]

I wanted to bump this thread up again because I lost my mare this week to EAM. I thought all the same things as many on here, yes, they are all going to die of something but this is perhaps one of the worst ways I can imagine.

She had an episode in November where she ended up in hospital but EAM could not be confirmed so it was put down to a respiratory infection She had been in the same field at the same yard for years with no problem, and so had all the other horses. There were seeds and seedlings in the field and I under estimated the risk and she paid for it in the most awful way.

The horrible and depressing thing is that sycamores are everywhere, they blow for miles, the seedlings are small, the helicopters are smaller still, I don't know what the answer is but I hope that as a community we can find a way to manage this new and all prevailing risk

Thank You skint1 for bringing this to our attention - but what horrible sad circumstances that have provoked this bump. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I feel for you and your family. These ***** seeds are really spoiling the pleasure and relaxation of horse owning for so many people now.

 

[southerncomfort]

skint1 - I'm so sorry, what an awful thing to happen. One side of my 3 acre field is covered in hundreds of saplings at the moment. I'm out there pulling them up every day but their seems no end to them.

Do you mind if I ask what your horse's symptoms were when she was poorly the first time? I only ask as my little old pony was very sick in December and we never really got to the bottom of what had caused it.

x

 

[Merlin11]

interesting update on celtic vet site

http://www.celticequinevets.co.uk/news/

 

[Trules]

There's a tree in the field, always has been, there have been horses grazing in said field for all my lifetime, I have never heard of any illness. that is why i am reluctant to get upset about it.