Ragwort - Time for Action

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BHS_Lee

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I’m afraid I am on after your help again and its another very long post (will also put in Latest News)!

I hope that at least some of you already know about BHS Ragwort Awareness Week (RAW) (July 12 – 18) Some people probably don’t though and it is really important that as many people get involved as possible so that we can actually achieve something.

I am sure everybody here knows just how toxic ragwort is to horses and just what a threat it poses. Anybody who has known a horse die of ragwort poisoning won’t need reminding. Despite this it seems that ragwort is getting worse and there is more and more of it about. This suggests two things – the education message isn’t getting through or is being ignored, and the laws surrounding ragwort are not being adequately enforced.

The British Horse Society wants to change this. To effect any sort of change in the law though we need evidence and there is currently no hard data at all on the extent of our ragwort. Without this no government or enforcement agency is going to be interested in introducing new legislation or providing funding to ensure better enforcement of that which already exists. Something needs to be done and we are trying to make a start on that.

So we are asking for people to report any ragwort near to horses (or sheep or cattle) that they see during RAW. We need to know where it is and how many animals are nearby and could be affected. There is lots we will do with such data including identifying and mapping areas where ragwort is most rife (and needs an urgent improvement in law enforcement) and collating the stats that we need to lobby for change. We are doing a one week “snapshot” survey so that we can directly compare results year on year if we repeat the survey.

So all I am asking is for you to keep your eyes peeled and report ragwort to us. There will be an easy to complete survey on the BHS website (www.bhs.org.uk) during RAW (it isn’t there yet as we are focussing on just the one week) and a form was printed in British Horse which BHS members will be able to use. We can also supply paper copies of a form if anybody would like to distribute some.

So please, during the week commencing July 12th, keep your eyes peeled and report ragwort to us. We can’t make an immediate improvement but things urgently need to change and this is the first step in that process.

I know just how proactive and helpful HHO users are so I hope you will help - it will backfire terribly if nobody gets involved and we have no data to argue our case with!

Hope this all makes sense – thank you in advance to those of you would are willing to get involved.
 
Am really glad people are trying to crack down on this.
Keep my horses on a small farm, and every year its really hard to get the farmer to get the ragwort sorted - far too much to remove by hand.
Again this year it got left too late & the horses had to be taken off. He ha finally topped it, but it has already seeded so next year will be twice as bad. :mad: I just don't think he realises there are laws & it is his responsibility to ensure it is removed.
Good luck with the campaign - I for one will make sure I do my bit. Having seen a mare go through a horrific illness as a result of ragwort poisioning, the more that is done the better.
 
Does anyone know why the council refuse to get rid of the ragwort in the verges. The farmer where I keep my pony has to go out and remove it all himself so it stops the spread on to his land. I asked this morning why the local council don't do it and he said they just won't and if they catch him doing it they can charge him for "Urban terrorisum" Why don't they want it removed? I just don't get it?
 
Unril DEATHRA or whatever they call themselves nowadays,stop telling people to report it and go through the tale telling themsleves,nothing will be done except for piople who can report anomimous bodies like councils,highway authorities etc.
doris2008 why haven't you reported the Farmer?Its probably because you will be thrown off if you do.
I have a field of three acres next door that belongs to someone in B'ham 15mls away whi never visits. IF I knew his name and address and how to pin point the field I could report it but then life would be made hell for me and I may come home one day and find piles of it thrown in my field for my animals to eat or he'd let out the field to the travellers etc
It's easier to just go on pulling the stuff year after year and hope you get the stuff before your animals do
 
why haven't you reported the Farmer?Its probably because you will be thrown off if you do.
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You'll find that topping the Ragwort, even if it is too late by horse owner standards, counts as dealing with it in Defra's eyes. A nearby livery yard has a fair amount of Ragwort - they get rid of it (slowly!) by hand pulling, digging up and spraying individual plants ... This means it takes them until October to finish their land by which times the plants are wilted and seeded ... Defra have been informed many times and have even visited + sent letters to their land owner and have decided that they are doing all they can and that their stratagy is thus sufficient. Wouldn't be happy if my horse had to live there, for sure! And of course because it seeds every year they will be locked in the cycle of manually removing it every year, but they say they have nowhere else for the horses to go so what can they do?
 
Have started pulling ours out, and hope it will be all out in the next couple of weeks.

Have to say though, unless a danger to wildstock, and unless its growing rampantly - ragwort is not a bad plant! It forms part of our wildflower diversity in the UK and is the most important food plant for cinnabar moths. So whilst I don't want my horses eating it - its not something that needs eradicating - like japanese knotweed. :)
 
Thanks for the replies, plenty of evidence here as to why we need to start getting the whole thing better enforced.

Stencilface, I know exactly what you are saying and that is why it isn't realistic for us to expect for ragwort to be completely eradicated. However, it does pose a very genuine and potent threat to horses (and cattle and sheep if they live long enough) and the myths about them not eating it just aren't true. What we are seeking to do is address ragwort where it does pose a threat to livestock (bearing in mind just how far and fast it spreads) and that is why we need the data.

As I said before, huge thanks to anyone who takes part in the survey or is able to help us spread the word about what we are doing.
 
Let that blasted moth(That is used the same way as people use newts to stop building projects)go and eat groundsil like it always used to when I was a kid and there was no ragwort and more moths!
 
Buswell said:
Does anyone know why the council refuse to get rid of the ragwort in the verges. The farmer where I keep my pony has to go out and remove it all himself so it stops the spread on to his land. I asked this morning why the local council don't do it and he said they just won't and if they catch him doing it they can charge him for "Urban terrorisum" Why don't they want it removed? I just don't get it?
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I have complained on umpteen occasions to Hampshire County Council and the Highways Agency about the ragwort on the verges near me with nothing previously being done . . . . BUT . . . . as we speak (they started this morning) there is a huge "vegetation clearance" operation going on with about 15 burly blokes, 4 lorries and goodness knows what else (including coned off lanes in the road!) - hoorah!!
 
Sorry, just bumping in the hope I can get more people to read this and get involved. It's really important to me that this is a success.
 
The trouble is is that councils budgets are being cut dramatically, and I think ragwort removal will sadly be low down on the lists of priorities.
I think getting young offenders out clearing areas would be worth doing, and even setting up volunteer task groups along with the local councils approval might be a way forward.
Sadly there seem to be too many apathetic land/horse owners who just don't care, there are two fields near me, one full of coloured mares and foals that has a fine crop of ragwort every year, and a single horse kept on some 'acquired' land beside the highway.
 
If they changed the angle of attack and pointed out how dangerous the pretty yellow flowers are to children who try to pick it, there would be hell to pay. I agree with Touchstone though - half the people who ought to be knowledgeable about it don't give a fig and are too lazy to put their rubber gloves on and get digging. It is always someone else's job.
 
BHS_Lee said:
Sorry, just bumping in the hope I can get more people to read this and get involved. It's really important to me that this is a success.
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Lee, that might be a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway:
would you like us to report ragwort that is not dealt with/we don't know if it's being dealt with or just all ragwort, including the plants we deal with personally?
 
Not a stupid question at all!

We would like to hear about any ragwort near horses whether it is being dealt with or not. Its just so we can get a clear picture of the problem and how much ragwort is present in a particular week.

Thanks so much for taking an interest and getting involved.

If anybody else has any questions please do give us a shout on welfare@bhs.org.uk as I won't be able to look on here for a while.
 
BHS_Lee said:
However, it does pose a very genuine and potent threat to horses (and cattle and sheep if they live long enough) and the myths about them not eating it just aren't true.
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I had no idea ragwort was poisinous to sheep - my YO grazes her sheep on some of the fields largely to keep the ragwort down as they happily munch away on it...

RAW plan sounds excellent - I will keep an eye out next week and report any findings as requested.
 
Biggest offender where we live.....the railway lines. Dead opposite our place, and because its never been dealt with, we spend every year ripping it out. Very unfair!
 
I make this my mission every year I hound the highway dept on a weekly basis as to where I have seen it, then ask what and when they are going to do somthing about it, if they do not bother I am back on the phone being a pain in the ar..se to them.
 
I've had a few in my field over the last couple of years been dug up and burnt fortunatly nothing as yet this year...but my neighbours adjoining land is full of it...can I insist he removes it?? or does he need reporting or is there some law I can state when asking him to get rid:D
 
I've completed the survey, can anyone tell me what the best thing is to do about ragwort you see in fields being grazed by horses?

I pass two fields on my way to work, both are massively infested with ragwort and between the two fields they are grazed by 5 ponies and a donkey. I haven't a clue who owns the fields so I can't report it to the owner.
 
I've already filled in the online form this morning - the only problem I have is that it won't let you do the survey more than once (managed to get round it though by doing it on IE & Safari!! :)) Unfortunately there are plenty more fields I have seen :(. Does this mean I'll have to resort to good ol' pen and paper??!!
 
Hi Rosiefell

Thank you for spotting that slight technical hitch - I hadn't realised that. I have changed it now though so you should be able to submit as many reports as you like. Sorry for the error and thank you for being so keen.

Katt, thank you too for filling the survey in. Getting something done is really hard but if you want to give us a ring in BHS Welfare we can try to help.

Thanks again everyone
 
Katt said:
I've completed the survey, can anyone tell me what the best thing is to do about ragwort you see in fields being grazed by horses?

I pass two fields on my way to work, both are massively infested with ragwort and between the two fields they are grazed by 5 ponies and a donkey. I haven't a clue who owns the fields so I can't report it to the owner.
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Assume you are England not Scotland or Wales or N Ireland
DEFRA report form--from memory they only accept hard copy


http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/docs/forms/weedsact/index.htm
 
Well, a small piece of my land is leased by the EA as they have a flood monitoring hut on it. For the last three years they have been responsible for the maintenance, and a two weeks ago they called to say that the contract had come to an end and that they would do a final clean up before handing it over. I went down to it the day after, and around the main area pulled 27 ragwort plants. I don't mean hard to find, close to the ground rosettes - I mean plants - which, by the way, they would have had to have walked through to get to the hut! There was evidence of them having sprayed docks and thistles, but literally they had done nothing about the ragwort. I was appalled - these are to so-called experts environmentally. I have to say that the verges in my area are pretty bad with it, and we live in a very rural, farming location where every field has cows, horses or sheep in it, and a friend of mine called the council to notify the need for them to come and pull and apparently they were not the least bit interested. She's actually pulled it up from the verges around her house.
 
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