Trailing buttercups in my field

LaurenBay

LaurenBay

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Hello first of all I am very sorry if it isnt called a trailing buttercup it sounded like that anyway! Haha. Secondly are they harmful to Horses? My horse will be changing fields soon to let hers rest the new field has lots of buttercups in. Will it harm her?
 
I think they are called creeping buttercups, if they are the sort that spread out close to the ground. Lots of people seem to have fileds full of buttercups where horses graze and I believe they are very unpalatable, so horses try to avoid eating them. Not sure how poisonous they actually are in terms of causing ill-health but they can cause irritation around the mouth and nose.
 
It is the oil in growing buttercups which is the problem, and some horses may develop colic symptoms, or loose droppings and may even froth at the mouth if they're eaten in excess. Generally the horses will try to avoid eating them and will graze around them, so most horses who graze in a field which has butercups in won't develop the poisoning effects. However in the rare event that you do discover your horse likes to eat them, you'll need to move him out of that field or get rid of the buttercups!

Once buttercups are dry (in hay) they cause no problems and are safe for horses to eat.

Buttercups can also irritate pink noses and cause a photosensitive reaction.

My horses field is covered in them, and because I'm on livery, and can't spray the field to get rid of them, I'm literally spending 20 minutes a day pulling them out! (not easy when the ground's as hard as concrete) I think by the end of the summer my horses paddock will be clear of them :D
 
Get the field tested for pH, it is probably low, which buttercups love. An application of lime will raise the pH and will help to get rid of the buttercups,
 
Thank you for the replys, she will be moving in to the field tomorrow and I will be around most of the day, I will keep a close eye on her and see wether or not she develops a taste for them.

Thanks again
 
Hi,
I also have this problem with one of mine.
I'm going to lime, he's in there at the moment.
How long will he need to be off after for?
Can I get this Lime at normal garden shops?
Thanks
 
I also have buttercup problems but he's been in there for 4 yrs & leaves them well alone. I do want to lime but have no other field to put him in & I'm presuming he has to come out when I do it- is that right? x
 
I have the same problem with Buttercups, and i remember reading somewhere on this forum that instead of using lime on the fields and leaving the horses off it for 2 weeks, you could use calcified seaweed which does a similiar job but horses can go straight onto it.

Has anyone on the forum used calcified seaweed? if so is it any good?

Thx
 
I have read in a veterinary book that it is very good for horse paddocks because of the minerals and it feeds the grass without being too nitrogeny. I have looked to buy it but always seems to be in smallish packs. There was an agricultural type which could be spread by a fertiliser spinner but it seems quite difficult to track down.
 
No point putting lime on without getting a soil test done, you could just be wasting your money. One of my paddocks is a pain for buttercups, but I had it tested and ph was perfect. I had it sprayed last year and its made no s0dding difference either :(
 
jrp204 said:
Get the field tested for pH, it is probably low, which buttercups love. An application of lime will raise the pH and will help to get rid of the buttercups,
Click to expand...

This works but we are finding that the buttercups are returning two years later and I really don't want to keep liming our field every two years. You need to keep the horses off after liming for awhile and certainly until you have had some decent rain.

Someone else suggested to me about trying and cross graze with sheep. Would be interested in anyone's suggestions/comments too especially about the seaweed as had heard that too but cost of it prohibitive?
 
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I might be wrong about this, but I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable then me can correct me if needed, but I was told years and years ago that if a horse eats too many buttercups it causes them to become infertile, but it really has to be lots and lots of them
 
CatStew said:
I might be wrong about this, but I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable then me can correct me if needed, but I was told years and years ago that if a horse eats too many buttercups it causes them to become infertile, but it really has to be lots and lots of them[/QUOTE

Doesn't work with geldings! But, seriously, I think that's an old wives' tale.

Before spending out on lime, be sure to get a pH test done. Are your fields wet? Well, perhaps not now given the drought in some areas, but are they usually wet? Creeping buttercups love the damp.
Click to expand...
 
Liming is pretty ineffective on its own (and very costly). I have no choice but to spray for buttercup every year (about £500). Trouble is that since our European friends have banned all the really good sprays then even this isn't that efffective. The problem really gets worse when horses have little grass ie in starvation paddocks and have no choice but to eat them. They are very toxic but as already stated in this thread, fine in hay/haylage as toxin evaporates
 
would it not be easier just to "mow" them all down at the begining of the season before they go to flower? i have more this year than last year, presumably because each year it flowers it spreads more? or is that me being abit stupid haha!
 
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