What's flowering as forage in your area

[pargyle]

Snap

Amazing colours aren't they - for such a drab brown moth they are remarkable caterpillars. Hardly the best camouflage ! I suppose they could be pretending to flowers ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I think they are wasp mimic warning colours.

 

[Antipodes]

Beautiful little bright yellow pom -poms of the Cootamundra wattle are out. Everything else seems to follow this wattle- in quick succession now, as the the days will soon lengthen down here.

 

[Newbeeneil]

My favourite are the cinnabar moth caterpillars on the ragwort. The moths are very beautiful too.

 

[JamezF]

My favourite are the cinnabar moth caterpillars on the ragwort. The moths are very beautiful too.

I agree. Unfortunately our neighbouring farmer goes absolutely bananas if we allow ragwort to grow. He insisted it was a "notifiable weed" which is absolute cobblers, but there's no reasoning with him once he gets an idea in his head.

James

 

[pargyle]

I agree. Unfortunately our neighbouring farmer goes absolutely bananas if we allow ragwort to grow. He insisted it was a "notifiable weed" which is absolute cobblers, but there's no reasoning with him once he gets an idea in his head.

James

It does spread far and wide if it's allowed to seed and if he has horses it can have a serious effect if they ingest it. So, any that seed in his pastures need to be dug up .. it's time consuming and it's presumably why he has a hang up about it. It's not notifiable and not am invasive species but it is a nuisance.

 

[Murox]

I think there's a lot twaddle spoken about ragwort really. In the past and now, I live/have lived in areas where both horses and cattle range on fields/areas with ragwort; they leave it alone. In the fields behind my house which are managed and grazed by both cattle and horses the ragwort is always left alone. I think, and stand to be corrected, that its only really dangerous to livestock when its been dried and gets mixed into hay as the beasts don't recognize it in that form.

 

[Antipodes]

...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think there's a lot twaddle spoken about ragwort really. In the past and now

and it's only a problem for horses etc if harvested and dried and bundled in with hay bales, horsesd will just graze around standing ragwort, as will sheep.

He insisted it was a "notifiable weed" which is absolute cobblers

many years ago there was regulation that landowners had to keep it down to reasonable levels - it was up to county councils to enforce. but nowadays - nothing

 

[emoclewbee]

I agree. Unfortunately our neighbouring farmer goes absolutely bananas if we allow ragwort to grow. He insisted it was a "notifiable weed" which is absolute cobblers, but there's no reasoning with him once he gets an idea in his head.

James

In the Republic of Ireland there are regulations pertaining to Ragworth.
The Department of Agriculture enforces the regulations but they seem to have a light touch and/or don't get notified too often.

 

[Do224]

I agree. Unfortunately our neighbouring farmer goes absolutely bananas if we allow ragwort to grow. He insisted it was a "notifiable weed" which is absolute cobblers, but there's no reasoning with him once he gets an idea in his head.

James

It’s really poisonous to horses…it will be hard to keep his grazing/cutting land clear of it if there’s a lot growing nearby

 

[The Poot]

Bumbles all over the purple toad flax ... another self setter !

Yes they love this and it flowers for a long period. I get lots in my garden and I always leave them to grow on.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It’s really poisonous to horses

that's why they avoid eating it - it only becomes a problem if it gets into their winter hay as they don't identify the dried stuff as ragwort

 

[pargyle]

that's why they avoid eating it - it only becomes a problem if it gets into their winter hay as they don't identify the dried stuff as ragwort

From what my brother says (he keeps horses) and my neice who is also a vet, as well as a former showjumper - the risk is that they accidentally ingest it or in some cases when there is nothing else in the field to eat. It's so poisonous to them that even small amounts will cause irrepairable liver damage and potentially death. No responsible horse owner would allow their horses to graze a field where there is ragwort - you cannot rely on them avoiding it. Even leaves or stems that have broken off the plant could be accidentally eaten.

 

[JamezF]

https://ragwortfacts.com/ragwort-horse-deaths.html covers the issue in a fairly balanced way as far as I can see.

James

 

[pargyle]

https://ragwortfacts.com/ragwort-horse-deaths.html covers the issue in a fairly balanced way as far as I can see.

James

For something that is supposed to be a fairly balanced article it rather leans heavily towards the ragwort is harmless side of the discussion.

https://ragwortfacts.com/ragwort-myths.html

LIke I said - would you risk a horse worth several thousand pounds when a few hours with a fork or spade in the pasture would mean there was no risk at all ?

 

[JamezF]

For something that is supposed to be a fairly balanced article it rather leans heavily towards the ragwort is harmless side of the discussion.

To me it reads more along the lines of "the risks are significantly overstated" and provides evidence to back up that position, rather than claiming that it is harmless. It also points out where the statistics used to back up the "anti-ragwort" campaigners' position really aren't reliable. The fact that the ASA has required advertisers to withdraw campaigns suggesting that ragwort is as toxic as the British Horse Society claims it to be because said advertisers can't actually back their ads up with reliable evidence is quite telling. Surely that's an easy issue to deal with if the evidence genuinely exists?

From memory, pulling/digging up ragwort is likely to be unreliable as a control because the plant can regrow from small pieces of root and to get rid of it the best policy may well be to allow it to run to seed because the plant then does die and research suggests that the seeds don't actually travel very far. They also either don't germinate or don't survive as seedlings very well other than when the ground is bare (based on the fact that a field used for farming locally was rammed with ragwort the year after it had been cleared for house-building that doesn't seem an implausible claim).

My understanding is that horses and other grazing livestock can actually cope with eating small amounts of ragwort without a problem, though as already noted they won't eat it if they can avoid it. The way the toxins are metabolised is, as far as I recall, similar to how humans metabolise products such as paracetemol. In small doses there's no issue, but when the intake exceeds the body's ability to reduce it to harmless metabolites, serious liver damage can occur.

A while back someone locally was claiming that ragwort was too dangerous even to touch, so I went and ran my hands along the length of several plants. I'm still here, oddly enough

James

 

[Antipodes]

or in some cases when there is nothing else in the field to eat

I think that's correct.

 

[Pioneer]

How does this relate to bees? Do bees forage it or is this a horse forum?

 

[rolande]

How does this relate to bees? Do bees forage it or is this a horse forum?

Yes they do, and good honey it is too - once it's been allowed to mellow