Ragwort in field

saranac1

Lads I just purchased 20 acres about 1 month ago. I topped it with topper 1 month ago as it was never done for 15 years and had a lot of rag worth visible.

Teagasc man says to not put cattle on it till 3 wks.

It's now a month and I'm looking to put in calf heifers on it to graze till Xmas .

Should I be looking into spraying or anything like that.

And no I don't have any sheep to graze it and really get rid of the ragworth!!!!

whelan1

ragwort are palatable when dying not when dead, walk the field and check they are dead, should be at this stage.... if it was me i would have pulled them rather than top them

grazeaway

whelan1 wrote: »

ragwort are palatable when dying not when dead, walk the field and check they are dead, should be at this stage.... if it was me i would have pulled them rather than top them

some fun pulling 20 acres of rag wort. might have been a better idea to spary to kill off the cover (grass, weeds and all) and reseed it to have it ready for spring. If there is that much ragworth and it hadnt been done for years you might have been better off starting with a clean slate.

whelan1

grazeaway wrote: »

some fun pulling 20 acres of rag wort. might have been a better idea to spary to kill off the cover (grass, weeds and all) and reseed it to have it ready for spring. If there is that much ragworth and it hadnt been done for years you might have been better off starting with a clean slate.

well in the 4 weeks the op has been waiting for them to die they could have been pulled- unless they are the too posh to pull sort:D

yellow50HX

whelan1 wrote: »

well in the 4 weeks the op has been waiting for them to die they could have been pulled- unless they are the too posh to pull sort:D

what if the OP is working during the day? the evenings are fair short these days and there are plenty of other things to get done rather then breaking your back pulling weed. one of my uncles roped me into giving him a hand last summer "pulling a few weeds by the ditch" took a full afternoon to do about an acre.

whelan1

yellow50HX wrote: »

what if the OP is working during the day? the evenings are fair short these days and there are plenty of other things to get done rather then breaking your back pulling weed. one of my uncles roped me into giving him a hand last summer "pulling a few weeds by the ditch" took a full afternoon to do about an acre.

once its pulled its gone... know it doesnt suit everyone to pull them

JohnBoy

horrible work, but I gotta agree with the woman, it's bloody effective.

yellow50HX

JohnBoy wrote: »

but I gotta agree with the woman, .

sure dont we all have to!!!!

hugo29

pulling dont always work, tried that and it came up somewhere else, have to agree with clean slate, spray all off and start again, you could overseed to reduce costs and time, worked for me

or else buy a few half dead sheep and make them eat it to the bone

Farmer Pudsey

It should be ok to graze now however if you topped a month ago there cannot be much grass in it. If you graze it now when the growth starts in the spring spray it, the rosettes should be nicly up. To get them under control you will have to spray 2-3 times in all. Like another poster said you might be better off reseeding. If you do reseed make sure to use a post emergence spray as there will be lots of little one starting to grow. No point on reseeding unless you do it right.

If there is alot of ragworth there is also probally a lot of docks and thistles.

hugo29

As matter of interest what spray would you use for ragwort, both in old established swards and in reseeds

saranac1

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

It should be ok to graze now however if you topped a month ago there cannot be much grass in it. If you graze it now when the growth starts in the spring spray it, the rosettes should be nicly up. To get them under control you will have to spray 2-3 times in all. Like another poster said you might be better off reseeding. If you do reseed make sure to use a post emergence spray as there will be lots of little one starting to grow. No point on reseeding unless you do it right.

If there is alot of ragworth there is also probally a lot of docks and thistles.

Really appreciate the info guys

Ill have a round feeder of silage/ straw out on this field anyhow. Because the field is new ill let them graze on it as much as they can and see next year about reseeding

Conmaicne Mara

Has anyone ever tried their hand at inventing a mechanical puller I wonder. Never had occasion to pull ragwort so it might not be possible to do so in that way. Seems like a big problem for some. We got hay last week that had ragwort in it, to be fed to sheep though so no problem for us.

whelan1

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Has anyone ever tried their hand at inventing a mechanical puller I wonder. Never had occasion to pull ragwort so it might not be possible to do so in that way. Seems like a big problem for some. We got hay last week that had ragwort in it, to be fed to sheep though so no problem for us.

when pulling ragworth you must make sure that the root comes up also.... ragworth in hay is dead and cattle normally just leave it behind, ragworth in silage is preserved and thus palatable and the cattle will eat it

bbam

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Has anyone ever tried their hand at inventing a mechanical puller I wonder. Never had occasion to pull ragwort so it might not be possible to do so in that way. Seems like a big problem for some. We got hay last week that had ragwort in it, to be fed to sheep though so no problem for us.

They have indeed.
The odd one comes up for sale in the UK second hand. About £5k.

Conmaicne Mara

bbam wrote: »

About £5k.

:eek:

Hand pulling it is then.

hugo29

ud want to read that one again:)

greysides

whelan1 wrote: »

.... ragworth in hay is dead and cattle normally just leave it behind..........

I wouldn't be depending on that!

Many animals have died eating hay with ragwort in it.

Conmaicne Mara

hugo29 wrote: »

ud want to read that one again:)

Was it milking cows long ago you were thinking of? :pac: