Ragwort - who deals with it?

[Acolyte]

I've been off work for a couple of weeks so just catching up with posts and saw Patches' post about ragwort. Just wondered, if you are a DIY livery person and the YO noticed ragwort in the paddock you use, what would you expect them to do?

1. Remove it themselves

2. Ask you to remove it (via a note on the yard whiteboard)

Our YO went for option 2 and I must say I was totally outraged

- for me, whoever sees it should get rid ASAP not leave a note on the whiteboard for someone else to do it. Plus this, to me, is the YO's responsibility, as it is upkeep of the land? (not that this would stop me removing it if I found it as stated above!) Would be interested to hear what people think?

 

[eventrider23]

In an ideal world YES it is the YO's responsibility AND as it is a 'listed' weed then it is the land owners responsibility to remove it from their property.
BUT in the real world - YO's rarely take that option as they see it that the person using that field should remove it if they want it gone.
In my view yes they should have it sprayed off or removed themselves and would make life easier if they did but unfortunately things rarely work out that way.

 

[Tempi]

Im on a DIY yard and have my own two individual paddocks which YO is meant to maintain - however i do the ragwort in it and the droppings. Neither of which bother me, its all part of having a horse......

 

[Breezesbenefactor]

Ditto, remember it is not what your YO can do for you but what you can do for your YO....ultimately you'll pick up the tab, so help where you can

 

[Acolyte]

Oh yes, I agree, I think my objection was to the fact that she wrote a note on the board instead of dealing with it straight away.

Had a little chuckle about asking the YO to poo pick my paddock as part of the 'land maintenance' she is meant to do - can imagine the reaction

 

[PaintboxEDT]

as a yo we pick it up in the fields !!
but we all get on with our liveries very well and now and again if its to much we will all go up together and make a day of it !!!
we have some big fields !!!! lol but this year there hasnt been very much at all so bro goes up and does it himself !!

 

[Acolyte]

You aint kidding there - we pick up the tab for everything, including paying for our rubbish to be recycled! C'est la vie, I don't have to stay there I know

 

[spaniel]

If you dont want to pay for YOUR rubbish to be reycled....take it home with you!!

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I am on DIY & we poo pick & remove any ragwort from our paddock ourselves. If I see any in someone else's paddock I would & have let them know.

It's never been an issue with us...we just do it...it's part of looking after our lad.

 

[pagancluf]

Same for me, if I see it I remove it - spent an hour and a half last night in the winter paddocks and three bin bags later so that the seeds don't multiply and it escalates next year.

Never seen it so bad in the last 3 years as it is now, all our country verges are covered in it. Must be all this rain?

 

[clipclop]

I would just pull it and think nothing of it to be honest.

I consider ragwort to be just another of those jobs that doesn't need thinking about. Just do it!

 

[bellaM]

If I waited for my YO to remove the ragwort the horses would be dead by the time it happened!!
At the end of the day if you see ragwort in your horses field you know that ragwort is poisonous it would be silly to put horses at risk over deciding who does it.

 

[Patches]

[ QUOTE ]
Im on a DIY yard and have my own two individual paddocks which YO is meant to maintain - however i do the ragwort in it and the droppings. Neither of which bother me, its all part of having a horse......

[/ QUOTE ]

I know you say it doesn't bother you.....but are you implying that you think the YO should be pooh picking your fields, but doesn't bother, because they are meant to maintain it?

Not aimed at you here....but alot of people think the YO should clear the fields daily of the droppings. Unless you pay for that service why would anyone think that? If you're on DIY does the yard owner clean the pooh out of your stables? Of course not. So many people think the yard owner should do it in the fields though.

As a YO, I do look for and remove Ragwort upon spotting it. I don't leave notes asking someone else to do it. I also chop docks down etc that grow up towards the electric fencing and would earth the current. Of course I mend fencing, knock in posts that someone's horses have rubbed on and left loose. I mend gates if horses have damaged them and I ensure a water supply to the fields. I also seem to be spending a lot of time catching a certain horse that keeps escaping out of the paddocks. Lord knows cobs seem to be immune to the fencer. I don't get paid for that either, even if it takes me an hour to nap him when he's running about.

I do, however, expect someone with individual paddocks to clean up after their own horse.