Pictures Plant ID; vetch

[little_critter]

I know this is a type of vetch but I’m not sure which one and it seems some are poisonous to horses. There’s quite a bit in my paddock and my horses are eating it. Just need to know if I need to fence it off and get weeding.

 

[missmatch]

Tufted vetch. Sometimes called bird vetch.

 

[tinselbobs]

I found this link on it: https://csuvth.colostate.edu/poisonous_plants/Plants/Details/106

We have it in some of our fields and it's fenced off until we can pick it all.

 

[TinselPoos]

If it's tufted (cow) vetch (vicia cracca) it's probably not a problem. The link from timbobs is to hairy vetch (vicia villosa). How to tell them apart, (borrowed from Wiki!) as below:

Cow vetch is in the family Fabaceae and similar to a pea in growth habit with climbing stems growing to 150 cm long, perennial,[1] sending out noose-like branched tendrils from the tips of its leaves when it contacts another plant and securely fastens itself. This can cause "strangling" of smaller plants. An individual plant may reach a length (or height) of 2 m with a white taproot, which may extend up to 1 m. The leaves are 3–8 cm long, pinnate, with 8–12 pairs of leaflets, each leaflet 5–10 mm long.
The plant is fast-growing and flowers prolifically, sending out 10 to 40 flowered one-sided racemes cascading pea-flower shaped purple to violet flowers from the leaf axil during its late spring to late summer flowering period. The flowers are mostly visited by bumblebees;[2] when the flowers drop off and tiny bright green seed pods 10–20 mm long, start to form.[3] Cow vetch is very similar to hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), but is distinguished from the latter by its smooth stem.



Legumes and seeds

The seed pods are 2 cm long and contain 6 to 8 seeds.[4] They resemble those of a very small pea. The tiny seeds within are ripe when the pods have turned black. Unripened seeds are swollen and have a green tint to them, but they unswell when they become ripe. The seed pods vary from light brown to dark brown with black spots.

 

[little_critter]

I would say NOT hairy vetch as the stem wasn't hairy.