ragwort and my lazy neighbours...

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pixie

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So outside my house (in town, not the farm) there are some fields with horses in. I had thought that they were growing ragwort as a crop due to it outnumbering any patch of grass in the fields. They left it so long to control last year that it seems to have doubled, and I've had to pull bits from my garden too. A couple of weeks ago the lesser infested paddocks were cleared of ragwort and all the horses moved there.
This morning a woman was pulling ragwort for maybe an hour or two in one of the smaller infested paddocks (and doing a rather piss-poor unmethodical job of it at that).
I guess she got bored/tired as now there is a tractor in there topping it! Its far too short to bale or anything. So I guess now all these bits of ragwort will be blowing into the other horse paddocks and into my garden too? Arghh. Is topping really a way that people control ragwort?
 
Topping is def not the way of controlling ragwort, rather silly really. I can believe the amount of fields with horses that have ragwort in them around my area, makes me angry just looking at it. I am quite lucky and have always been pretty clear of ragwort in my fields, think its the type of soil. We had some around the back of my school which has been picked and burned. :)
 
Just returned from holiday and could not believe the amount of ragwort. Llangollen, a paddock with some nice colours in full of mature ragwort. angesley was bad too a riding school with ponies and tons in, about 300 plants. Do people realise its danger?
 
Now the tractor is topping the large paddock... I'm not even sure its topping, its very very short, sort of like grade 1 cut compared to a grade 5 cut that we would do - if that makes sense?
Lazy feckers.
 
About 2 miles from my house there's a small paddock, about 2.5 acres, that usually has a selection of coloured poines and cobs on it through the winter, and they are moved somewhere else for the summer. This paddock was fluoro yellow, seriously, you couldn't see the grass for the amount of ragwort in there. I drove past on the way to my yard the other day and the chap was in there, slaving away with his rag-fork, and when I drove past again about 3 hours later he was just leaving, his flat-back Transit van piled high with the horrible stuff and a tarp strapped over it. He was there every day for over a week, each time piling up the flat-back and taking it away. Well done that man!
Have to say, we have only had to pull a few plants this year. I'm going to claim its through excellent pasture management, not sheer, dumb good luck. Yes, its definitely my fantastic paddock maintanence *ahem* :D
 
I guess if they cut it really short bale it up move it off and burn it that could maybe be a was to get rid quick, allowing it to be managed next year?!? It would obviously need doing very quickly to prevent the seeds getting blown around.
One of our fields at yard has ragwort in it, no horses tho and its high up the hills furthest from yard. A quarry was dug 2 years ago up from this hilly field and its blown in from there.
We are picking it daily but as we need YO son to bring tractor up as carrying more than two bags down is impossible!
 
I had thought that the may be baling it, but it looks like it is chopped into smallish pieces, so I don't think its bale-able. I guess I'll have to wait until he's finished with this paddock and see what he does next.
It just makes me mad, as we go around our whole farm several times a year pulling or spraying weeds as required, just to keep the place clear. And these lazy people just let their place fester! If they had started pulling a wheelbarrow worth or two each day when it started growing then it wouldn't be such an enormous task
 
It's not just individual landowners allowing it to go unchecked. Driving down the M40 through Warwickshire and Oxfordshire it is everywhere, as well as on other road verges as well. Each year I am having to get rid of more and more plants in my fields, from one or two plants three years ago to around 25 this year, obviously blowing in from somewhere as I never allow it to seed. What exactly is the legal situation regarding controlling this widespread menace as it seems more out of control this year than ever before? It worries me how much might have found it's way into the hay supply.
 
horserugsnot4u said:
It's not just individual landowners allowing it to go unchecked. Driving down the M40 through Warwickshire and Oxfordshire it is everywhere, as well as on other road verges as well. Each year I am having to get rid of more and more plants in my fields, from one or two plants three years ago to around 25 this year, obviously blowing in from somewhere as I never allow it to seed. What exactly is the legal situation regarding controlling this widespread menace as it seems more out of control this year than ever before? It worries me how much might have found it's way into the hay supply.
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Ragwort is a notifiable weed, along with spear thistle, creeping or field thistle, broadleaved dock, and curled dock, under the Weeds Act, 1959. If these weeds, also known as injurious weeds, are present on your land, you may be required to prevent them spreading to neighbouring land.

Despite what some pro-ragwort groups proclaim to the contrary, ragwort IS poisonous to man and animals. Gloves are a must when pulling ragwort, especially if there are more than just a few plants to remove. It is poisonous in the green and dried. The danger in dried ragwort is its palatability to livestock. Mowing the weed and then putting animals back on the land is a complete waste of time and probably even more dangerous. The smallest bit of root left in the ground will generate a new plant. Cutting the plant off at ground level leaves that much more root available to regrow.

You should contact your council regarding the extent of the weed. If that fails, contact BHS for advice. The fact that livestock might be grazing in the next field may be more of an impetus for action than if the weed is found along the railway lines.
 
Are you sure they're not going to go and spray the field after they've got rid of the stuff they've just cut? It's what I would do if it was that bad.

As for it being a notifiable weed I don't think anyone outside of the equestrian community really gives a toss TBH - our council certainly doesn't :mad:
 
Let the cinnabar moth eat groundsel it always did when I was a kid and thrived, whereas as soon as ragwort started to appear the moth started dissappearing
 
We rented an infested paddock earlier this year and are still trying to clear it. The plants were too big when we took it on for just spraying, we sprayed to catch the small plants and are now having to pull the dead and the still growing so that we don't end up with loads of dead stuff in the field for months. We will be having it sprayed again come September and then again next spring. It would have been much easier to have it cut and baled and then worried about spraying it. We will not turn out on it until we have got it completely clear. Having just spent a lot of time on the east coast I am amazed at the amount of ragwort around this year, it is everywhere, and yes, we saw many fields that looked as if it was being cultivated rather than a weed.
 
As for it being a notifiable weed I don't think anyone outside of the equestrian community really gives a toss TBH - our council certainly doesn't

Agree with that!! North Somerset Council are a disgrace, it is EVERYWHERE :mad: Have noticed a hell of alot of fields with horses in locally that seem to have more raggy & thistles in than grass too :( It is a non stop battle but my field is raggy free :D
 
When spraying ragwort it is important not to cut off the leaves first. The leaves act as a conduit for the spray to get down to the roots. With the roots killed no new plants can spring up the following year.
 
Wiltshire seems to be covered in it. I have pulled up a huge amount this year. The main problem is it is on all the verges, which are council controlled, and all over the MOD land! Personally I would like to see the good men from the local prison out pulling it up, or maybe some of those people who get given community service orders?
 
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