Ragwort Panic!!!

PonyFeet10

PonyFeet10

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I can't sleep because I am worrying this is ragwort. I've found a good bunch of it in the last 2 bales of hay that I've opened and it appears to be similar to the live ragwort plant that I pulled from the field 2 days ago (shown in pictures). The brown plant in the pictures had been soaked with my hay for 5 - 10 mins before I found it the next day in the bottom of the haynet untouched. Obviously I'm now panicking that this is ragwort as it looks the same but a different colour! Could somebody please let me know/help me out with this.
Thanks in advance, Alex.

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Sorry about the quality of the pictures, it was the best I could do.
 
Go back to your hay supplier and show him it, he may know exactly where it has come from in the field (or if he has bought it in) and be able to reassure you there won't be any more or come up with a solution, even if it means refunding any more you have bought. Either way you need to tell him. If your horse has left it then you don't need to worry too much that he will have eaten any, he obviously didn't like it and I doubt he will have eaten some and left that. Make sure you shake out and check thoroughly any you use from this supplier until you have spoken to him.
 
I'm sure that's Ragwort. Doubt your pony ate any, as they don't really like the taste even if it's dead - despite it being more palatable then. I bought a couple of sample bales of hay last winter & the very first night my pony had left a couple of stalks of Ragwort on the floor. Obviously I didn't buy any more of that hay. She's been fine since. If your pony hasn't been exposed to Ragwort very much before I'm sure he'll be fine as it's cumulative.
 
Years ago we had some hay brought in and a few horses became sick - staff found ragwort in the hay - whole lot was returned to supplier.

I would take what you have found and any other bales you bought back to the supplier and insist on your money back then get hay from elsewhere.

If you don't then plan to go through every slice and remove the offending ragwort.
 
Yes, definitely ragwort. I found some in a bale from an extremely reputable supplier one year. I had used them with no problems for three years. Sadly, despite photographs they refused to admit that it was ragwort and that I found it in their bales. I used to spend an average of £500 a month on their haylage. Needless to say, they lost my custom.
 
You do have rights if you have a problem with your supplier. The hay you bought is not fit for purpose. You shouldn't have a problem. They can't really plead ignorance either (unless they bought it in). Whoever cut the hay would have seen the ragwort when mowing, it impossible not to see it. I often find ragwort when mowing. It's a pain in the ar*e but I stop the tractor and pull it up. This down to the laziness of the person doing the mowing.
 
Thank you for your replies!

I have already warned the other people who are using the hay and I have shown the brown plant to the hay supplier (who is also my yard owner) and they have said that there are many plants that look like ragwort and for me to get it checked out and then let them know what it is.

I'm concerned now I have also read that if there is ragwort stalks in the hay, that the flower buds and leaves will have been spread throughout it. So it doesn't matter if the horses have left this, they still would be eating parts of the plant? I have 3 horses of varying ages, two oldies and one youngster and now worried sick that they will now get ill :(

Thank you for all of your help and advise, Alex.
 
Yes that's ragwort. Luckily if you have been soaking hay then you have probably made the ragwort unpalatable by making it wet again. Horses won't consciously eat ragwort.

I agree change your hay supplier. One of the reasons hay is expensive from good hay suppliers is that they spend £000s on weedkillers and fertilising treatment to ensure good quality ragwort free hay.

'Happy Tum' is inert charcoal and removes toxins from a horses gut/system, so if you are worried I would get a tub of that and I think Global Herbs also do a herbal product called ClearOut with similar properties.
 
Yes, that's definitely ragwort.

Ring your supplier, or just take a bale round to him and show him. It may just be the odd plant which you can separate as you fill the haynets, obviously that's not ideal, but it's do-able. If there's lots of it, then you cannot feed it and he should not be cutting fields like this for hay.
 
Wagtail said:
Yes, definitely ragwort. I found some in a bale from an extremely reputable supplier one year. I had used them with no problems for three years. Sadly, despite photographs they refused to admit that it was ragwort and that I found it in their bales. I used to spend an average of £500 a month on their haylage. Needless to say, they lost my custom.
Click to expand...

Thank you for confirming that Wagtail. I have been with this supplier for 6 years or so and have never ever found anything like this in the hay. The only reason I can think of as to why, is that the hay was cut later this year when the ragwort is growing in the fields. Normally he cuts the hay earlier, when there's no ragwort around at all.
 
I expect that your horses will be fine. However, I was pulling ragwort up all through April when it first sprouts. Usually though, it will be short enough not to be caught up with the hay when it is only just sprouting. I wouldn't worry too much. This could well be the only bit in the whole batch. However, if you have access to the hay fields in future years it won't hurt to walk them before they are cut just to assure yourself that the hay will be fine.
 
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