Ragwort..

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vennessa

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Do you get it growing in your fields? How do you deal with it?
I have been offered another field to rent nearly oposite where i rent now.
The field has quite a bit of ragwort. I am going to pull it if i rent the field but have a niggle in my mind about it. Should i or shouldn't i rent it as it grows ragwort.
I have been lucky to never have a single plant grow - it daren't in my fields
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I organised a lecture with Prof. Derek Knottenbelt a couple of years ago on ragwort. It sticks in my mind.
What would you do?
 
go for the field, but either spray or pull religiously.... any field can grow it and I assume that any field can be cleared of it too.... If there is a lot of it then it will grow for years to come though as the seeds will be widely distributed by now
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my OH is OBSESSED and i really mean obsessed with eradicating the damned stuff...he goes out into the paddocks every day with his ragfork and a bucket and always comes back with at leat 4 - 6 rossettes...

we went out to check out hay field yesterday and pulled up 8 well grown plants that were definitely not there last weekned!!!

will check the hay field again just before it gets cut next week..
 
Aslong as you dig it all up and burn it before the horses go in and you dont give it a chance to grow again next time i wouldnt let it stop you getting the field if it is a goo field with good grass other than the ragwort
good luck
 
[ QUOTE ]
my OH is OBSESSED and i really mean obsessed with eradicating the damned stuff...he goes out into the paddocks every day with his ragfork and a bucket and always comes back with at leat 4 - 6 rossettes...

we went out to check out hay field yesterday and pulled up 8 well grown plants that were definitely not there last weekned!!!

will check the hay field again just before it gets cut next week..

[/ QUOTE ]
I am also that bad
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I must say word must have spread about my obsesion as when i moved the horses to the area everyone started clearing it around there areas
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I am terrible with hay. I saw a mare and foal die from ragwort poisoning in hay. The people were absolutely devastated. There horses always had the best of everything.
My hay man is ancient but he is not alowed to pop his clogs, no other hay merchant would put up with me
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I hate seeing it! Drives me up the wall when I spot it along verges or in fallow fields.

We pull it every year but it still pops up the next. It has a 70% sowing success rate so the key is to get it out before it flowers.

However, it only takes one stalk by the roads or in a nearby field to keep the problem going.
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Most land will grown ragwort unfortunately so I wouldn't dismiss renting it because of the ragwort. We pull ours with a ragwort fork as this helps to get up the roots quite easily. Each ragwort plant only survives for 2 yrs so in theory if you have a serious blitz you should eradicate the majority of it. Unfortunately the councils tend to leave it growing on the road sides and so it spreads across every one elses land too.
 
We have a ragwort problem but we work very hard at eliminating it. We have just taken over an additional 6 acres which has ragwort but we have just finished ragforking the whole thing. I am going to consider spraying part of the field though as we may decide to take a crop of hay off it next year.

I too have a brilliant hay man who makes haymaking an artform! He is fastidious and 100% trustworthy but I sometimes wonder how much of the hay on the market contains ragwort. Scary thought.

I would take the land if, apart from the ragwort, it suits you.
 
Having seen horses die from ragwort poisoning, I would say spray it and do it now before the flowers come out. Spraying will get rid of all of it, even the little tiny seedlings which can be missed whilst pulling. Also if any roots are left after pulling, they can regrow.

I pull mine, but if I had a choice, i would spray.

If the fencing is secure and there is a water supply. There is no reason not to use the field after eradication of ragwort.

Remember also that bracken has the same effects as ragwort and will need removing too.
 
The thing to consider with a ragworty filed is that spraying and pulling will on;y get rid of todays ragwort plants. Seeds can remain viable in the soil for years and years, so when the grass is eaten down, or an area becomes poached the seeds will be stimulated by light or warmth and up they come.

I took over a ragworty field 4 yeras ago. I am just about on top of it, but even after 4 sprays, when I walk it over I nearly always end up with a new bucket of seedlings. You will become compleletly obsessed and will never ever be able to walk on any grass without doing the 'ragwort walk'.
 
DON'T PULL RAGWORT!!!! It does the same to your liver as it does to a horse! It gets into your skin and in your lungs. I'd spray it but if you really have to pull it, wear a full body suit and face mask!
 
Does it really have the same affect on our livers as horses if we pull it? Mind you, if I popped my clogs due to liver failure, not sutre if they could tell if due to excessive ragwort pulling or excessive drinking really!!

We have a ragwort pulling session every year. My sister has already pulled a load out and it's been burnt but it's not really started growing badly as yet in our field. Our fields are alot better than they used to be too.
 
Yes it can damage your liver so wear gloves as its absorbed through the skin someone also mentioned that the pollen can damage if breathed in so you might play safe and wear a face mask.
I see that article in H&H was spreading the myth that it is the ONLY food sorce for the cynabar moth.When I was a kid there were lots of them and they ate groundsill its about time it went back to it and Ragwort was eliminated.
 
If you pull it, which I think is the best way as spraying means finding every single wilted plant (as once wilted its much more likely to be eaten by horse as wont be bitter), then use a ragfork and decent gloves and you should be fine.

Though if you have my luck you will do the entire 4 acres the horses arent in, get it all piles up in piles ready to remove and then naughty haflinger will limbo through the (On!) electric fence because she wanted the long grass in there:((((((

So now the piles are removed and so is the fence - she's won!
 
Ragwort is dangerous to ALL animals and to humans. People use sheep to eat the plant thinking it doesn't harm them. It does. It is just that sheep are normally killed at a reasonably young age before the damage can be seen.
 
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