Ragwort. More information please?

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Tallante

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I would like to start a thread for discussion.

I believe Ragwort has spread significantly over the past 20 years. I really don't recall it being so common in the hedgerows and along the roads and railway lines when I was young(er).

As responsible horse owners and in the absence of better information I believe we should remove it from our paddocks.

I would like to see more information and some independent study on the risks it poses to horses and ponies.

I am sure there is evidence that if a horse ingests a lot of it then ultimately it will kill; but I haven't seen the facts so I'm not going to state it as a fact here.

I have many questions.

Is there any published evidence of a horses death being caused solely by the ingestion of Ragwort?

How much does a horse (incl pony) have to consume and over what length of time before it becomes a health issue?

If there is Ragwort in a paddock with good grass what are the chances of a horse consuming toxic amounts?

Is there a time of year when it is more toxic than at other times?

Is there a difference in toxicity between live and dead Ragwort?

Is dead Ragwort really more palatable than live Ragwort?

Has anyone measured the spread and proliferation of Ragwort in fields, hedgerows, along motorways and railway lines?

Given the fact that Ragwort is unlikely to go away, now it's embedded in the hedgerows, should we consider alternative management policies? For example, control of pollen and seed (perhaps by cutting the flowers) vs eradication/removal of whole plants.

Discuss.

PS: please avoid links to unofficial websites or documents with anonymous webmasters or authors.
 
I think that there is a lot more ragwort about this summer, possibly aided by last year's wet summer. I have been led to believe it can lay dormant in the soil for many years before it appears overground.
The only way I could think that you would ever get results for tests linked to quantity=death would be to monitor horses from foal because otherwise you wouldn't know how much it could have consumed prior to ownership.

I believe that local councils aren't that fussed about it.
 
there have been many horse deaths which on post mortem have proved to be due to the toxins from ragwort (which are very specific, i believe) in the liver.
however, i'm not a vet or a scientist... this is only what i've read.
this year i tried a different approach with mine, letting it grow until it flowered and then pulling, and pouring neat bleach on the area where the root was. it is impossible to get all the roots, they are weak and break, and the plant grows back where roots are left.
i have 4 horses in about 6 acres, with ad lib hay as well as grass. ONE growing plant was touched, bitten off half way down and then spat out about 5' away. (i poo pick fields 2 x daily and am very vigilant, this is the only plant that was touched.) i had the same thing happen years ago with different horses in different field. this proves to me that young horses will try it and spit it out, it is obviously bitter. the older horses (in diff field) didn't touch the growing plants. however, they had plenty of other stuff to eat... i would not have left growing ragwort in the fields if they had not.
i don't think dead/dried ragwort is more toxic, but it is more palatable, hence horses eat it accidentally in hay. this is why horsey people must be REALLY fussy about where their hay/haylage comes from. farmers must be vigilant and pick ragwort before cutting for hay.
ragwort is getting much more common. when i was a kid it was rare to see it. its spread along roads has been unchecked... see my comment on the other ragwort thread, about it now appearing alongside autobahns in Germany... i bet i know where it came from. (
frown.gif

fwiw a friend's field nearby was grazed all last year, and sprayed for ragwort. she has moved away and the field has been empty since spring. it is now a SEA of ragwort, literally hundreds of tall plants. i can't work that out... it's supposed to be on a 2 year cycle, 1st year rosette form (flat, no flowers or seeds), 2nd year grows upwards. how the hell can it have been non-existent last year and have come up that much in 1 year?!
yes, i think we need different management. 2 years ago there was loads on a farmer's field near my place. i went out and cut the tops off every one just before it seeded, and put them all in plastic bags for burning... at least i managed to stop it spreading. actually iirc those plants did not come back the year after, so perhaps there is some truth in the theory that if the plant gets to the stage where it is about to seed, that plant itself dies off. new tactics for eradication along roads?
how to get local councils to bother about it is beyond me. we need the Daily Mail on this tbh!
 
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Discuss.

PS: please avoid links to unofficial websites or documents with anonymous webmasters or authors.

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Maybe you can look at my website.
The aim of this website is to distinguish facts from myths by using a scientific approach based on research and advice from biologists, toxicologists, and other experts. In this way, we want to determine the nature and scale of the problem that Ragwort presents to our horses and other livestock. In this way, I would like to contribute to a solution of the Ragwort problem; as a horse lover AND as a Ragwort enthusiast.
http://www.ragwort.jakobskruiskruid.com/

There is also a list avaible with the authors and a lot of references.

Best regards Esther
 
EstherHegt, please can I ask, why are you a "Ragwort enthusiast"?
is it purely for the cinnabar moth? does anything else benefit from ragwort?
afaik the cinnabar moth caterpillars can survive on other plants too.
thankyou.
 
[ QUOTE ]
EstherHegt, please can I ask, why are you a "Ragwort enthusiast"?
is it purely for the cinnabar moth? does anything else benefit from ragwort?
afaik the cinnabar moth caterpillars can survive on other plants too.
thankyou.

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There are a lot more insects who are ragwort specialists, look at this site that is a very good one http://www.buglife.org.uk/conservation/currentprojects/ragwort/ragwortfactfile.htm
On my ( dutch) website we have also a lot of foto's of insect who use ragwort.
http://www.jakobskruiskruid.com/website/index.php/multimedia/foto-galerij.html

Best regards Esther
 
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