Pictures WEED I.D. IN HAY HELP PLEASE

[PurBee]

Sorry to yell, but this is fairly urgent as i have to deal with supplier imminently. Weed experts please weight in with your thoughts!!

just received delivery of large batch of hay.
Oh it’s lovely dried, fresh, green, dreamy hay....except there’s ominous weeds lurking within....im so gutted.

The stems are all hollow, all stems are ribbed - some green, some orangey/golden - 2 foot long pieces - but original plants could be longer as this hay is very compressed and dry so ive got loads of pieces but not whole bunches.
The leaves just crumble in my hand, its such dry hay, so i cant locate leaves, whole in the hay.

The heads of the weeds so far found are ragwort looking, multiple yellow flowers, and hemlock or cow parsley?....im wondering whether its wild parsnip with yellow flowers and cow parsley? Cant find splotches of purple/red on the stems suggesting hemlock.

The whole bale has a malty, almost haylagey smell but its 10-15% moisture, there’s no fermentation happened, as the grasses in the bale show.

Because its all dried its hard to compare with live, fresh pics Of any weeds:

Any ideas folk? ???fingers crossed im worrying over nothing but im not feeding it until im sure....

The teaspoon added to give size perspective, some stems finger thick, other half finger...

 

[PurBee]

Sorry the pics are not in daylight, only received delivery tonight - will add more daylight pics tomorrow when ive pulled out more, hopefully clearer specimens.

 

[COldNag]

It looks a bit like something we had in hay a few years back... the farmer called it raggle.
Other than that, sorry I am no help!

 

[PurBee]

Thanks oldhag...is raggle a nickname for ragwort?!

? i hope not....

ive seen ragwort close fresh and dried - the stems of the top part tend to curve, be orangey all over when dried - i dont have anything thats blatantly ragwort orange, just a few flowerheads with some multiple small yellow flowers on...stems darkish red.
For the amount of stems i have id expect to find loads of yellow flower heads if it was ragwort.

 

[COldNag]

N

Thanks oldhag...is raggle a nickname for ragwort?!

? i hope not....

ive seen ragwort close fresh and dried - the stems of the top part tend to curve, be orangey all over when dried - i dont have anything thats blatantly ragwort orange, just a few flowerheads with some multiple small yellow flowers on...stems darkish red.
For the amount of stems i have id expect to find loads of yellow flower heads if it was ragwort.

No, it wasn't ragwort.

 

[DabDab]

I'd say most likely is yarrow

Or possibly cleavers.

Neither of those account for those yellow flowers though, but I think that's a different plant to the rest of the weed you have in your pics

 

[cauda equina]

You've got at least 2 different plants going on there
The bottom one is some sort of umbellifer (cow parsley family)

The yellow flowers look to me to be too big for ragwort, and too few in a cluster
I'll dig out my reference plant and take some more pics, but this is definitely ragwort
The stems are clearly ridged, and are rigid; it's very hard to crush them
This was ragwort pulled from the field so hadn't been squashed up in a bale

 

[rextherobber]

Would agree bottom pic is possibly yarrow, one above it maybe Fleabane? Or yellow hawkweed?

 

[laura_nash]

Picture This app says the flower heads are Coltsfoot. It can't recognise the stems though.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I think the bottom one is yarrow as people have said.
The yellow flowers don't look like ragwort so I think you are OK there. There's lots and lots of things that look like that though.
I suspect the stems are common hogweed or cow parsley? Very difficult family but if there's no purple blotches I think they are probably one of the safe ones. Too small to be giant hogweed.

I'd still be speaking to the supplier and expect them to be able to identify them.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

It isn't coltsfoot, that doesn't have long stems. The flowers don't look like ragwort to me, too many petals.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Sorry to yell, but this is fairly urgent as i have to deal with supplier imminently. Weed experts please weight in with your thoughts!!

just received delivery of large batch of hay.
Oh it’s lovely dried, fresh, green, dreamy hay....except there’s ominous weeds lurking within....im so gutted.

The stems are all hollow, all stems are ribbed - some green, some orangey/golden - 2 foot long pieces - but original plants could be longer as this hay is very compressed and dry so ive got loads of pieces but not whole bunches.
The leaves just crumble in my hand, its such dry hay, so i cant locate leaves, whole in the hay.

The heads of the weeds so far found are ragwort looking, multiple yellow flowers, and hemlock or cow parsley?....im wondering whether its wild parsnip with yellow flowers and cow parsley? Cant find splotches of purple/red on the stems suggesting hemlock.

The whole bale has a malty, almost haylagey smell but its 10-15% moisture, there’s no fermentation happened, as the grasses in the bale show.

Because its all dried its hard to compare with live, fresh pics Of any weeds:

Any ideas folk? ???fingers crossed im worrying over nothing but im not feeding it until im sure....

The teaspoon added to give size perspective, some stems finger thick, other half finger...View attachment 66581View attachment 66582View attachment 66583View attachment 66584View attachment 66585

I never saw the point in flower pressing before. My mum insisted that I learn how to do it as a kind of botany exercise, but the pressed flowers and leaves never looked to me like the live plants.

Now I can see that it would be useful to have a selection of pressed, dried examples of known samples of toxic or undesirable weeds to compare to what you find in hay.

 

[cauda equina]

Ragwort flowers

 

[Scotsbadboy]

Cow parsley and hawkbit?

 

[Prancerpoos]

Could you not just ask the supplier? If they are a reputable hay merchant they should know what was growing in the fields and should not be selling anything that contains poisonous weeds.

 

[Gloi]

Look rather like sow thistle or hawkweed.

 

[PurBee]

Thankyou ALL for your great suggestions...you’re brilliant!
Youve given me lots to investigate further.

I shall be asking the supplier identify them, theres a batch number etc for them to trace to farm....they are VERY reputable and supply all over europe...a very large company, they do various kinds of forage, this stuff is costing me a fortune to source aswell.
I didnt sleep well last night - even dreaming about investigating weeds in hay! ?

I agree about the yellow flowers - there’s far more petals than ragwort has. Theres about 30 very slim petals in contrast to ragwort 12 petals. And if those stems were ragwort, id have loads of flowers in the dropped-off bits that are at the bottom of the bale, which ive investigated closely and literally find just 2-3 more tiny yellow flowers.

 

[PurBee]

Cow parsley and hawkbit?

Hawkbit, i know as ‘cats ear’ - i have some on the fringes of a field, came in from some hay years ago. The flowers of that are bigger than the flowers i have. And the petals are a lot larger/wider, than the very fine petals i have on these - but ill bear that in mind as different regions could grow different size flowers.

The stems are hollow, round inside. The stems wall is not thick, theyve been easily flattened in the baling process.
Im looking at yarrow stems, and the wall of the stems look thick, as if they could crush up/shatter into bits if dried right out and then baled....but i havent handled yarrow personally to know if that’s it. I certainly am not finding cluster yarrow flower heads anywhere.

so maybe its loads of cow parsley?

Those stems i pictured are what ive pulled out from just 2 kilo’s of hay, so its got loads in the whole bale, and personally dont feel happy that there so much of whatever it is, when i was told it was mixed grasses and *some* meadow plants.

To top it all off i got 2 tonnes of this delivered yesterday, 120 vacuum packed in bags thrown randomly in a heap in a farmstore yard because the courier didnt secure the pallets in his truck and the 2 pallets went over in his truck. So he threw them off the back of his van in a heap and drove off, didnt ring us to say what had happened until we go to pick up.
Loaded up our trailer....The hitch on our trailer then broke off the 4x4, thanks to a company we paid 5k to for a new chassis not fixing it back on properly...glad that at least happened when not towing a horsebox! So have to do several trips in small van today to pick up the heap that i might not be able to feed!
So i’ve got the courier company to sort out to try to get labels back as they took the pallets and packaging too! Aswell as have a hefty enquiry with supplier. I need a whiskey and more sleep.
??

 

[Keith_Beef]

I can see labels on two of those vacuum packed bales, so maybe you've got batch number, harvest and packing dates for this hay... In a case like this, I'd definitely be berating the supplier for having badly secured the bales on the pallet and for having a carriage company with such inept personnel.

I'd be looking for partial reimbursement for the time taken to move the bales; if you buy in such quantities, I imagine you would use a pallet truck or a forklift to move them, usually.

 

[PurBee]

I can see labels on two of those vacuum packed bales, so maybe you've got batch number, harvest and packing dates for this hay... In a case like this, I'd definitely be berating the supplier for having badly secured the bales on the pallet and for having a carriage company with such inept personnel.

I'd be looking for partial reimbursement for the time taken to move the bales; if you buy in such quantities, I imagine you would use a pallet truck or a forklift to move them, usually.

The supplier has sent me pic of them pallet wrapped AND secured with tensioner banding. They’re better packaged than most pallets i buy-in.

The courier in this country was at fault - he didnt strap the pallets in his truck. We were his last delivery and 2 tall 1 tonne pallets werent strapped in to stop them going over on bends.
These pallets have come from eastern europe, in a truck from warehouse to ferry port, moved by truck to courier, and survived intact all that handling/forklifting until final courier couldnt be bothered to do his job properly.
Ive paid hundreds for this delivery.
Shouldnt have to tell them how to do their job!

i had a range delivered on a pallet - last delivery on courier route - only 260kg but the guy strapped the pallet in his truck, as it was alone in his truck and liable to slip on road bends. That was just 1 metre tall load in his truck.

Yes, batch numbers are evident and am awaiting info from supplier regarding weeds. ?

 

[Keith_Beef]

The supplier has sent me pic of them pallet wrapped AND secured with tensioner banding. They’re better packaged than most pallets i buy-in.

The courier in this country was at fault - he didnt strap the pallets in his truck. We were his last delivery and 2 tall 1 tonne pallets werent strapped in to stop them going over on bends.
These pallets have come from eastern europe, in a truck from warehouse to ferry port, moved by truck to courier, and survived intact all that handling/forklifting until final courier couldnt be bothered to do his job properly.
Ive paid hundreds for this delivery.
Shouldnt have to tell them how to do their job!

i had a range delivered on a pallet - last delivery on courier route - only 260kg but the guy strapped the pallet in his truck, as it was alone in his truck and liable to slip on road bends. That was just 1 metre tall load in his truck.

Yes, batch numbers are evident and am awaiting info from supplier regarding weeds. ?

I'd missed the bit about the courier not having secured them properly... but then that makes it entirely the fault of the carriage company's inept personnel.

The fact that they came all the way from eastern Europe might make identification more difficult; their common weeds might be rare in the west, or even totally absent.

Hope you get an answer soon!

 

[PurBee]

Update - some of the weeds are dock, found some heads, but there are others as yet unidentified weeds in there.

Good news - batch 2 , different hay mix im trying is clean hay, lovely, fresh dry.

Response from courier company ( who are major international transporters and also transport animals!) - acknowledged receipt of my complaint with pics, and are distressed to hear such an incident happen. they’ll be replying fully once theyve investigated further.
I think they subcontract local deliveries to local ‘man with a van’ self employed drivers.

Theres are about 20+ bags that are punctured/ripped due to being thrown on the gravel stone yard floor, thank god it wasnt haylage.

 

[StableMum]

It's difficult to see from the picture but do you have any little black seed pods in there, about three inches long and thin. If so it's scotch broom. When we had some in our hay the horses wouldn't touch it even though the bale looked fine apart from the seeds.

 

[PurBee]

It's difficult to see from the picture but do you have any little black seed pods in there, about three inches long and thin. If so it's scotch broom. When we had some in our hay the horses wouldn't touch it even though the bale looked fine apart from the seeds.

great suggestion - i wondered that - broom is menacingly toxic - Thankfully telltale seed pods and bright green stems are absent from this batch.
There was a couple of bunches of it growing near my horse area yrs ago - just popped up, cant find it elsewhere on walks in the valley, my foal at the time was interested in trying to breach fence to investigate it -so i researched it and dug it up!

 

[9tails]

The yellow flowers look like Bristly Oxtongue, my horse's favourite weed.