Cows-parsley- safe to feed?

[Darcys-girl]

Is it safe to feed to neds? As something different - seems to be the only thing growing at the yard in this weather.

[Laura+Phantom]

I don't know how much they can safely eat but I know it is not poisonous and I let ours eat it, horses absolutely love the stuff!

[poohsmate]

Horses love it.. at least my old chap did.. he loved this time of the year when the cow parsley was coming out, even more so when it was at a nice height to grab a mouthful as we rode past...:D

[Yann]

That's one of Rio's favourite tricks too :)

[Bebe]

It is safe but you don't want them eating huge amounts. You also need to be careful not to confuse it with Hemlock, which is poisonous. Usually Cow Parlsey is out before Hemlock appears.

[gypsygold]

Personally I try not to let mine eat it but only because I am worried that I might be wrong and it could be the poisonous hemlock.

If anyone has a positive way to differentiate between the two I would like to know:) .

[Darcys-girl]

Thanks for the info - thought it was ok for them to eat - had a small seed of doubt!

Found this on web about Hemlock might help to distinguish between the 2:
(http://www.v72.org/medicinal_hemlock.htm)
Hemlock is a tall, much branched and gracefully growing plant, with elegantly-cut foliage and white flowers. Country people very generally call by the name of Hemlock many species of umbelliferous plants, but the real Hemlock may be distinguished by its slender growth, perfectly smooth stem which is marked with red, and its finely-divided leaves which are also smooth.

It is a biennial plant, usually growing from 2 to 4 feet high, but in sheltered situations sometimes attaining nearly double that height. The root is long, forked, pale yellow and 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter. The erect, smooth stem, stout below, much branched above and hollow, is bright green, but (as already stated) is distinctively mottled with small irregular stains or spots of a port-wine colour and also covered with a white 'bloom' which is very easily rubbed off.

[Peanut]

Hemlock is a very much bigger, chunkier, stiffer version of cow parsley. Cow parsley is very much more delicate looking.

[gypsygold]

thanks - I will keep an eye out and make sure I can tell the difference.

[Ptaty70]

OMG!!:eek: :eek:

I found out about cow parsley only last year, after having had a horse for over 8 years... friends were giving it to their horses as a snack at one particular stables, where they picked it from the same spot.

I took some from the same spot yesterday to see if CW liked it and he LOVED it, so I picked some more from a different spot today and gave it to him in his pm hay.

I was going to start a thread about cow parsley, but then found this one.. and it has made me seriously seriously worried. I have looked on many websites and have found that hemlock and cow parsley look very similar to the point that I am finding it difficult to see the difference from piccies:eek: Then I saw this post... is this right??? would hemlock typically come out a little later???? PLEASE someone tell me that I haven't inadvertently given him hemlock!:confused: :confused:

Usually Cow Parlsey is out before Hemlock appears.

It seemed that hemlock comes out in summer but the weather has been very very dry....

Wally wrote a note on another cow parsley post about a year ago, that horses don't find hemlock as palliative but CW thrust himself into eating it with gusto. Does this mean it's cow parsley???

How could I have been so stupid and not investigated beforehand. Should have realised that the other ladies were taking their cow parsley from the same spot... :mad: stupid stupid

[Bebe]

I haven't seen any hemlock out yet and I've yet to find a horse who'll eat it. When it has been out Bebe doesn't even try, yet she's currently veering off in a sly fashion to grab at the cow parlsey in the hedge as we ride past it.

The easiest way to avoid it is to not let your horse eat anything with red on the stem.

[Sarah1710]

To tell the difference check the colour of the stems. Cow Parsley is plain green, but Hemlock has purple mixed in with the green: http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/image/c/coma2-st24152.htm

[ruthb]

i bring my horse big bunches of the stuff when its out - she adores it, and is very much still standing!

[iluvpin]

hey

this is what pin goes mental for (don't see the attraction myself), but she loves the stuff. took some up to the field the other day for a treat when i caught her, and she got really excited when she seen what i had bought her. (bless her cotton socks;) ).

lozzie an pinxx
ps pin also grabs it as we pass it out hacking, try not to let her do it but she pulls really hard just so she can grab some.

[Ptaty70]

thanks guys :o that certainly helps me identify the difference more than looking at leaves and 'this one is thicker and more sturdy than the other'..:eek: .

Stems, stems, stems...

Also pleased that horses probably wouldn't eat hemlock (you see, they maybe DO have some sense!;) )

Horse was still standing this morning, so **exhales** it was certainly cow parsley. Before I read this, I was just going to give it a wide berth from now on, but he did certainly get excited about it - so now I can feed it to him whilst it's all out

Thanks again!!!:D

[LokiSofi]

just found some info whixch is quite interesting, if oyu have a horse with a pink nose you might want to restrict the amount of cow parsley they eat as they contain light-reactive substances that can be absorbed directly into the muzzle during grazing causing photosensitisation (resulting in very burnt noses)