Ahh Ragwort Please read

[atillathefun]

Is it just me or does anyone else get annoyed when you see horses grazing in fields full of ragwort!!
I want to stop at every field I pass and say do you realise that one bite will cause liver damage and potentially kill your horse!!! You wouldn't leave a bucket of poison in your field and yet you leave ragwort. Not only that but it spreads underground and causes more problems for those of us that do keep our fields clear!
I can't understand why people dont control it, is it that they dont know its poisonous or what????

Sorry bit of a rant but its very frustrating!! and am trying to understand why!
:eek:

I have attached a picture for anyone who is not sure of what it looks like

[Trewsers]

CAn't believe people are daft enough to leave it - I think the government should circulate to all Yard Owners the importance of getting rid of it - well, not the goverment but some sort of organisation (farming comission or whatever). I wouldn't be 100 per cent sure what it looks like - but I believe my YO to be sensible enough to rid the fields of it. Its scary how many posionous things there are :eek:

[sozzie]

Have to totally agree I hate seeing the stuff and the council seem to let it get out of control around my area.
I was really worried when I saw film on the local news last week with an RSPCA officer talking about rescue horses in Hampshire, there happened to be lot of ragwort in the field behind her :( - that really puzzled me(it wasn't an RSPCA owned field though as far as I could tell). There was also a program on the bbc about some grazing land for auction recently and they were saying it'd be excellent for horses but it was totally covered in Ragwort -very worrying.
I've been really lucky, everywhere that I've shared or had my own horse there's been really careful management of Ragwort and it'd be hard to find even 1 plant growing.

[helenc]

If you are worried about any fields in particular then you should contact DEFRA. There are guidelines on their website about ragwort & they can order landowners to clear their fields of the stuff.

[andreaB]

there are loads by me , overgrazed fields full of it with several cobby ponies , its soooo frustrating

meanwhile i pull my own fields , the neighbours field , the neighbours garden , the old quarry torres beyond my fields................

there is so much of it about this time of year seems we would spend all our waking hours warning others & making reports to the local council & defra

does anyone know if the rspca class horses in fields full of ragwort as a welfare issue??????????

[mister jones]

i have loads in my field but it is too much to pull up so i have post and railed it so that none of the horse can get to it, even if thy lean over it. but have seen fields where the the horse graze among it! if i see any where my horse actually grazes then ipull it up immediatly.

[atillathefun]

For anyone with too much to pull up I know it is a pain but unless you clear it it will continue to spread ad the next few weeks are when the Ragwort will go to seed. The BHS website have some guidelines for helping owners to get rid of it see below -

Treatment of very heavy infestations

If overall treatment of the field with a tractor mounted sprayer is required, then mixtures based on 2,4-D + MCPA (e.g. Headland Polo) are the recommended approach.

These products require active growth of the ragwort to work and must be applied in good growing conditions (10°C+ with dry leaves, and no rain after application for 6 hours), as the chemical needs to move within the plant to do its job.

The ragwort should be sprayed in its young rosette stage, either in the autumn (generally September / October), or the spring (late April / early May).

As ragwort becomes more palatable immediately after spraying, stock needs to be kept off the field for at least 14 days until all Ragwort foliage has died back. NB this may take as long as 4 or 5 weeks.

If the grass is going to be made into hay or haylage, then it is preferable to treat the field in the autumn, as the ragwort will have all winter to rot down. The field can then be reassessed for ragwort infestation before being finally shut up for hay in the spring. If treatment of hay fields has to be in the spring, steps should be taken to remove all the dead ragwort completely after spraying, as it is unlikely to have had time to rot down completely before the hay is cut.

Products based on 2,4-D + MCPA have an additional benefit in that they also provide useful control of other weeds present at the time the ragwort is treated. These include buttercups (which must be treated pre-flowering), and thistles, plantains and dandelions, which should be at the rosette stage.

Spot treatment of individual plants

Where infestations allow spot-treatment, or it is not possible to get a tractor mounted sprayer to the field, a new product, Barrier H, is becoming a recognised effective alternative that is also recommended for use on areas such as SSSI’s.

Barrier H spot-spray is best used on small rosettes. Unlike 2,4-D based products, Barrier H does not require active growth of the ragwort to work, and may be applied at any time of year provided the ragwort leaves are dry at the time of treatment and there is no rain for 24 hours.

Barrier H is designed for quick, simple but accurate application. Each 5-litre container comes complete with a spray gun attachment, so the operator does not need separate application equipment such as a knapsack sprayer. The spray gun dispenses 3mls per squirt – enough for a small rosette or seedling. Larger rosettes and flowering plants require up to six squirts. Each pack will destroy up to 1600 small seedlings/rosette size plants right through to the root.

Barrier H destroys ragwort quickly. In dry sunny conditions small rosettes will begin to wilt and blacken within an hour and are normally completely destroyed within 24 hours. Large cauliflower type rosettes and flowering plants can take seven to ten days to be completely destroyed. After treating the ragwort rosettes, the leaves will die first, but the root takes longer, so don’t pick off the dead tops too soon, as it is essential that the whole plant is dead before any material is removed. As with other treatments, animals must be kept away from Barrier H treated pasture for 2 weeks, or until the ragwort is completely dead and any debris (which may be the case with more mature plants) has been removed.

If you miss the spring rosette timing, it is possible to use Barrier H late June/July/August, before the ragwort seeds. However, much more product is required at this stage as the plant needs to be completely moistened with Barrier H, and effective destruction requires the plants be treated in dry sunny conditions. Alternatively, you can save money by pulling out the mature plants (always wear protective gloves to do this) and burning them. Ragwort re-growth usually appears within 2 weeks, after which time apply Barrier H.

Whichever product is used, always read the label carefully and ensure that all application guidelines are adhered to.

[aliw]

We dig up all ours with a ragfork then burn it in the field they are in now, and in the other fields we sprayed it and topped it.

[Drummers mum]

It is very scary but sometimes you fight a loosing battle. I have spent an hour today in my field with the rag fork, but I can see plants in neighbours fields that will go to seed soon and then where does that leave me??!! :(

[Haleydocious]

I walked past a field the other day and noticed that the person had ragwort in there. I know someone who lives near her who has a horse so I told her about it and she will be telling them apparently. She was quite angry when I told her. Thats only one in quite a few that do it though, so it seems. :mad:

[Bay Mare]

We've got ragwort because the ****** council have got it 'growing' on the verges :mad: Thankfully the field is big enough (ginormous) that the horses have plenty of grass etc to munch on so they avoid the ragwort. Horses only tend to eat poisonous stuff when there's not much good stuff around, they are very clever and tend to avoid it otherwise. We're moving to a different field next week so the field will be treated then. As atillathefun says, though, it is more palatable when it's dead/dried which is another reason to check your source of hay/haylage!!

[Drummers mum]

Our council are the same! People must think I'm a bit loopy because if I see a bit when I'm walking I lunge over and heave it out of the ground! lol! :D

[*Rachel_George*]

We dug it all up from willows old field now YM wants her to go in anouther field on her own with such high grass and tones of ragwort... :eek: and we said, no because of the grass but would dig ragwort up then started saying none of her fields have it in...hmmm.

[artemis]

Report it to DEFRA & your local councils. We must see if this new law has teeth!

[**Tia**]

its discutsing. theres a pretty big field down horton lane with about 6-7 horses in it, and its got huge stalks of ragwort. i think the best thing weve done was to do a ragwort race. is what we did we got these bin bags and go into pairs and whoever got the fullest bags got a choccy bar lol :o
something should be done :mad: