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Post by Kelly Marks on Jul 24, 2008 7:06:32 GMT 1
I feel so sad when I start the day with an email like this. You do all understand that even a 'little' ragwort around the place is not acceptable don't you ? Don't listen to 'well they wouldn't eat it unless they are starving' - some do! Also the seeds blow around and start the liver damage which can take years to develop. Don't take a chance on your horse - get rid of the b****stuff now!
My wife has a 5 year old welsh cob gelding and has been diagnosed with liver failure. He had photosynthesis of the skin on his nose couple of weeks back and his condition is gone worse, after blood tests the vet recommended putting him to sleep was the only option. Since then we have established there is an abundance of ragwort in the field were he grazes and others, the question is, is it possible to identify if it is the ragwort that has poisened his liver as the owner of the fields is not seemingly bothered and is jeopodising others. My wife has brought this pony up from a foal and is devastated at the thought of losing him because of potential neglect.
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Post by Fussymare on Jul 24, 2008 7:40:13 GMT 1
This is really sad. I've just moved my horses to a new place because of the abundance of little ragwort seedlings in my old paddock - I could never find time to clear them, despite trying my best. However, near that yard, adjacent to a bridleway, is a field where it looks as though ragwort is being grown as a crop - the field is literally a sea of yellow. What chance have we horse owners got when there is so much of the evil weed growing abundantly all over the country?
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ted
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 228
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Post by ted on Jul 24, 2008 8:02:02 GMT 1
Surely things cannot have changed in the time I've lived in France .
Ragwort was - and presumably still is - a notifiable plant , and if discovered must be destroyed . The local authority should check that this has been done .
Ted .
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Post by rach22uk on Jul 24, 2008 8:30:32 GMT 1
It is Ted but try getting anyone to do anything about it. We have it growing everywhere here - roudabouts, verges, fields, everywhere - they do nothing.
Mums field is horrible for the stuff - there's a big field beside mums but slightly higher up thats full of the stuff and every year we clear mums field but it grows up the top, seeds, blows onto the field, and starts over again.
All it takes is one plant with a horse whose had previous exposure. The damage is never undone it just builds up - very scary!
Thoughts to the poor family of that horse. Maybe if people started talking more about the damage and losses they suffer because of this highly poisonous plant then people may start to pay attention.
It is sad when the authorities who are MEANT to police it don't do anything even when they are called with exact location details.
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Post by indibindi on Jul 24, 2008 9:21:35 GMT 1
there are masses of ragwort around at the moment. masses of fields, its along highways, its everywhere. the council should use all those dodgy people who get community service to remove it.
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Post by Lulu on Jul 24, 2008 9:42:37 GMT 1
Yup I've had the same thing happen with my neighbour's pony, it was recommended to be pts has it's liver was failing (muzzle was VERY sunburnt and weeping and nostrils very badly burnt as it was a white/grey pony). She refused to have it pts and when I suggested it could be ragwort poisoning she stated that they don't eat live ragwort, only dead ones Pony seemed very wobbly in gait to walk (like stringhalt behind) and had laminitic shock too, and extreme photosensitivity (it tried to hide out of the burning sunlight when it could) Pony made a recovery, but it does have a compromised liver function (they did a biopsy of liver, poor thing). However it will be easy for the pony to go downhill again as there is still ragwort in the paddock (next to mine). I keep mine religuously weeded but I am fighting a losing battle like most of us oin here, as the cows field next to the nieghbours field is full of the yellow peril GRRRR We will never win this war, it's all over the place, on roadside verges, in towns, even got some growing on the public grass lawns outside my house and in the school playing fields !
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HeatherL*
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Post by HeatherL* on Jul 24, 2008 10:01:00 GMT 1
Oooh don't even start me on the Ragwort subject. I tried everything last year to try and get something done about a field near me with horses grazing in a sea of Ragwort. DEFRA told me I'd have to fill in a weeds form, but I needed to include the owners name and address which would have needed me to do a landsearch as nobody knew who owned it and I've never seen anyone in the field. I also had to identify if the Ragwort was a threat to other livestock, not the horses grazing on the field you understand, but other livestock in the area! I also had to provide an OS map of the field o.k. which was the only bit I could manage. It was so difficult I gave up with DEFRA. I tried the local council, who couldn't help at all. The ILPH provided me with posters to put up around the field warning of the dangers of Ragwort but said that unless the horses were showing obvious signs of illness or injury it was difficult for them to do anything.
I'm now driving by the same field again this year and once again the horses are grazing in a sea of Ragwort :-(
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Post by Zuzan on Jul 24, 2008 10:05:28 GMT 1
I've noticed something about the incidence of ragwort.. it seems to me that where there are large colonies of bunnies then there is ragwort.. ragwort is one of the first plants to seed and grow in recently disturbed land.. or where over grazing occurs...
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teresa
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Post by teresa on Jul 24, 2008 10:50:15 GMT 1
Ragwort is horrible stuff, I get out with the Rag fork as soon as I see the little blighters poping up through the ground and dig them up bag them up and take them well away from the horses fields.
The damage they cause is horrible
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bridge
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Post by bridge on Jul 24, 2008 10:56:53 GMT 1
When I had my horses we had Ragwort growing along the grass verge at the side of our fence. I phoned the local County Council and I have to say they were very quick in sending out a two-man team to clear it all.
Here is a list of who is responsible for what areas:
Private and commercial property, agricultural land: The land-owner occupier/tenant. Motorways and trunk roads: Highways Agency All other public roads: Local Highways Authority Railway land: Network Rail Canals and towpaths: British Waterways SSSI: Owner/Occupier National Nature Reserves: English Nature/Owner/Occupier Local Nature Reserves: Owner/Occupier Common areas/common and: Local Authority/Owner Ministry of Defence (MoD) land: MoD Development land: Owner/Occupier Parish/Town/Community Council land: Parish/Town/Community Council Private woodland/forestry: Owner/Occupier Forestry (Forest Enterprise): Forest Enterprise
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Post by Kelly Marks on Jul 24, 2008 12:06:27 GMT 1
Bridge - that could be really useful to people - many thanks. I always thought everything was DEFRA but this seems a lot more useful.
Kelly
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Kayti
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Post by Kayti on Jul 24, 2008 12:10:11 GMT 1
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Post by suewhitmore on Jul 24, 2008 12:11:53 GMT 1
is a field where it looks as though ragwort is being grown as a crop - the field is literally a sea of yellow. It is ragwort not rape isn't it? Altho' I know what you mean. My OH clears ragwort every day and joins me in raging at it uncontrolled in the verges, roundabouts and set aside fields where it can easily disperse into neighboring fields and then into ours. I hate using sprays, but I am afraid we have had our field sprayed off about four times in the last 12 years.
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Post by jaydevon on Jul 24, 2008 12:12:30 GMT 1
and its illegal to have it on your land, ive knever heard of any one being prosocuted for it though.
if you have verges or any grassland around you report it to the council. i found they were out the next day clearing it
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newimage
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Post by newimage on Jul 24, 2008 12:17:06 GMT 1
It's the most annoying stuff ever! We have so many set aside fields near us which are cut once a year, and only the tracks for walking on are cut about twice a year. There is some land near my field which is up for let and the owners live miles away, but the field is a mess! The letting agent has had complaints and have allegedly sprayed it but it's already flowered and seeded everywhere else. I'm always digging the dam stuff up and am desperate to get my field owners to spray it late this year and/or early next year.
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