Exasperated
Well-Known Member
It’s poisonous to mammals which eat it, an alkaloid which builds up cumulatively, and for which there isn’t a cure. Animals may start to show signs of being ‘off colour’, unthrifty etc, but finally succumb when the levels become too much for their liver to cope with.
It is poisonous at all stages, but apparently most tasty as young rosettes, or when dead (as in after cutting, or after spraying, or dried in forage / hay). Some animals develop a taste for it, sheep often eat it, but very few keepers of commercial livestock ever have the post mortems / tests done as the owners of beloved or insured horses would - therefore there are simply fewer statistics of fatality in other species.
The toxins also enter through skin contact ( been advised on here that this route does not ‘poison’ in the same way as via digestion, nevertheless, veterinary professors and hospital consultants strongly caution against human skin contact precisely because of ragwort toxicity), and also inhalation of incinerated ragwort fumes - one local woman hospitalised into ICU having accidentally got downwind of her bonfire. So take care!
Land owners and Highway Authorities are legally required to control it (Weeds Act, Ragwort Control Act), so please go onto the government website and report offending locations to Natural England, ASAP.
If the flowered plants die back or are cut, they should be gathered and removed from grazed land.
Weed killers ‘Thrust’ 3.5L/ha with ‘Depitone Ultra’ 1.25L/ha can be applied to new rosettes in Sept, possible follow up application in the spring; must be a licensed operator to spray this; and need to keep your animals away while the chemicals burn it out.
It is poisonous at all stages, but apparently most tasty as young rosettes, or when dead (as in after cutting, or after spraying, or dried in forage / hay). Some animals develop a taste for it, sheep often eat it, but very few keepers of commercial livestock ever have the post mortems / tests done as the owners of beloved or insured horses would - therefore there are simply fewer statistics of fatality in other species.
The toxins also enter through skin contact ( been advised on here that this route does not ‘poison’ in the same way as via digestion, nevertheless, veterinary professors and hospital consultants strongly caution against human skin contact precisely because of ragwort toxicity), and also inhalation of incinerated ragwort fumes - one local woman hospitalised into ICU having accidentally got downwind of her bonfire. So take care!
Land owners and Highway Authorities are legally required to control it (Weeds Act, Ragwort Control Act), so please go onto the government website and report offending locations to Natural England, ASAP.
If the flowered plants die back or are cut, they should be gathered and removed from grazed land.
Weed killers ‘Thrust’ 3.5L/ha with ‘Depitone Ultra’ 1.25L/ha can be applied to new rosettes in Sept, possible follow up application in the spring; must be a licensed operator to spray this; and need to keep your animals away while the chemicals burn it out.