Ragwort

Persephone

Persephone

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Grrrr...little moan!

We have a field at the yard which has ragwort in. I have done my best to clear it as we go during the summer, but then I was ill and it got left.

The horses are meant to be moving into this field at Christmas so after talking to YO I have tried to get together a posse one day next week to clear all the old plants etc, to make it safe for the horses. I feel we have two choices. To clear it by pulling or fence off the area. With grazing being at an premium in the winter I think it is best to pull it. Bearing in mind I shifted sacks of the stuff in the summer with no help, you would think I had asked them to pull their own teeth!
Moan,moan, moan! You have never heard anything like it! My argument is that five of us can spread out across the field and be much more efficient than just me walking up and down on my own as I am bound to miss bits. So Tuesday is the day and people are starting to try to back out already. Lazy Barstewards!

I have already put in place that the field will be sprayed after this winter, each time the rosettes come,in order to eradicate the problem as best as possible. The thing that annoys me is that I was at this yard about 8 years ago and there was one tiny patch which was easy to control. Now however it's a major job.

Am I a moany cow? Is it unreasonable to ask for some help. YO works full time and is going to spray as I say in the future. Just can't believe they are so selfish and that they seem unaware how dangerous it is.

Moan over.
 
Yards can be so frustrating like that it always seems to be the same people that do the work. I saw a great tip on here a few months ago saying that this person cut the plants with sissors and then dabbed the remaining stem with glyphosate. Saves worring about getting all the roots as glyphos kills them - but you are not left with the dying top growth that becomes more palletable. I think that they worked in teams of 2 - so you would need at least one more to help. It might not be as back breaking as digging. I haven't tried this out myself though.
 
You want to spray with Barrier H first and leave for 24 hours and spray again and wait for about a week for the chemical to kill off the roots before pulling it out otherwise the root will regenerate to form a new plant.

If you are using the field then I would do an area at a time fencing off the area with electric fencing so that the horses can not get at it while the chemical is working its way through te plant.
 
However you tackle it, you're defo NOT a moaner and it MUST be done or horses shouldn't be on the field. I have recently taken on a rescued mare who has "significant" ragwort poisoning and if your yard colleagues could see and understand what ragwort poisoning has done to her, they'd be in there helping you. I have pulled my girl back from the brink thanks to my amazing YO, Professor Knottenbelt of Liverpool Uni and Dr Holland of D&H, but she only has a tiny percentage of functioning liver left and ragwort prevents regeneration. Prevention is 10,000 times better than trying to deal with the after effects. And horses WILL eat ragwort if that's all there is! And some just develop a taste for it. On our yard, we keep an eagle eye out for ragwort and dig it up then and there. I'm the most paranoid of them all now coz I don't know for certain if my girl has developed a taste for it ... she might actively seek it out even if the grass was lush!
 
Your fellow liveries do not deserve to have horses if they are too lazy and unmotivated to remove ragwort. It can and does kill horses FFS, what is wrong with these people?
 
I totally agree about the attitude of the other people on the yard. Maybe it might be worth producing a few booklets using your pc and giving them to the people on the yard to try and educate them about how dangerous the weed is. It only has to be simple and highlight the dangers of ragwort. You could include details about the plant and you will find information on the DEFRA website here DEFRA Ragwort information . It may be worth your while either downloading and printing the information out or else phoning or writing for hard copies. Another useful pdf file is found here ragwort information includes diagrams and symptoms of poisoning
I would also include some pictures if you can of horses that have suffered as a result of ragwort poisoning and include those which died as a result if you can get them as it may just prick their conscience if they have one
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Here are a few more sites and pages I have found with information which may be of some use.
Redwings website, includes pictures and details of a horse that had ragwort poisoning
Another interesting article relating to ragwort poisoning in cattle can be found here cattle deaths
I hope these are of some use to you and anyone else reading this thread.
We must all work together to eradicate this awful weed
frown.gif

Caz
 
Yea a few of us pulled in the summer, but you get the few who leave it to everyone else, like cleaning the water trough, unfortunately one of our fields is opposite a field full of the stuff so you feel your wasting your time.
 
If the field is full of it then I would take up the following advice given on the DEFRA website
"If you are concerned about Ragwort or other injurious weeds spreading to your land, you must first approach the owner/ occupier of the land on which the weeds are growing and ask them to take steps to clear the weeds. In the vast majority of cases the owner/ occupier of the land will normally react positively."
If the matter is not resolved then you need to fill out one of these forms 1959 Weeds Act complaint form and send to Bristol - South West Rural Development Service
Block 3
Government Buildings
Burghill Road
Westbury-on-Trym
Bristol
BS10 6NJ
Tel: 0117 959 8622
E-mail: enquiries.southwest@defra.gsi.gov.uk
 
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