Ragwort........(sorry long and rambling!)

[Lexie81]

I rent grazing at what is i guess a grass livery yard....lpts of paddocks with their own Shelter and storage area attached to the shelter, people rent 1 or 2 paddocks each for their horses. We do have an agreement on paper which states we are liable to remove ragwort growing in our paddocks. I have been renting a paddock since the spring and pulled all the ragwort as it grew, put it in sacks and took it to the tip.

i have since aquired another paddock further up for the winter, and over this weekend have (with my loyal husband and 8 year old daughter!) cleared the paddock of the few bushes of ragwort, fixed the fencing raked the leaves etc and moved my 2 in. What concerns me is the paddock directly next to mine. There are 2 horses in there and at least 2 thirds of it is literally a carpet of ragwort. i have honestly never seen so much, hadn't really noticed it before as my paddock was not near theres and had no reason to go up that far. But i was actually shocked as was my non horsey hubby. They have started to pull it up and have put it all on their muck heap, which is actually in the area that the horses are grazing on. They only actually come up to the horses once or twice a week though and I cannot see how they could ever pull it all, i think it probably needs spraying or an army of men for a few days. Some of it is yellow flowering. I am concerned A) for the horses well being and B) that if i keep renting the paddock next door, my paddock will become as bad as that due to the seeding etc.

THe landowner recieved a complaint earlier in the year because some of the paddocks had rather a lot of flowering ragowrt in. THe Lady who owns the house and grazing next door ( who is a friend of mine) complained to him and he and a few chaps turned up and cleared it all ( much to the annoyance of all of us who had actually dug our own up as per our contract but thats another story!!)

My dliema is what to do. Landowner is a grumpy bugger and not interested ( some one has already left him a message and texted him with no reply) Horses owners clearly are not concerned. Can i complain to someone else? Should I see if my friend next door will complain again so he then has to do something? Will it just die off over the winter? And surely i am right in thinking it shouldn't just be dumped on the muck heap where they are grazing and it can blow all over the place (including into my paddock!) AAAGGGHH so many questions! It is really stressing me out to keep seeing it like that

 

[classicalfan]

I am sure there are people on this forum who can give you the exact information but I seem to recall that ragwort is notifiable as a noxious weed, so perhaps it is possible to get the relevant government department to act. Or pehaps more effective, would be to mention the fact that it's a notifiable weed to your paddock neighbour and say, in light of the contract terms, how worried you would be if the ministry ever came to inspect the property as the contract would indicate that they are the responsible party for clearing their paddock of said noxious weed - or words to that effect.

 

[phoebeast]

Write to Natural England- visit their website, they have a Weed Complaint Form. You also need to contact the propietor asking them to remove it. Natural England also have leaflets you can send to them.
Ragwort is now going out of season therefore they are unlikely to inspect until May next year, as I have found. Contact World Horse Welfare or the RSPCA if the owners refuse to do anything.