Ragwort

WexTK

Hi all,

seems to be more ragwort about the place than last year. The father has a tendency to chop it when topping paddocks, whether that is only spreading it I wonder....

Have a neighbour who lets his garden go abit wild so that doesn't help matters either.

Advice on best course of action apart from reseeding? Spray it in late autumn?

Any on here tackled this problem recently?

Regards.

whelan2

pull them, wear gloves

KatyMac

Went looking on Saturday and only found a couple of handfuls - I must be winning the battle, used to get armloads.
Been pulling them diligently for the past few years as a couple of fields got a bit out of control when I was working full time and didn't have the time to get after them. Pulling them every time you see them is the only way.

il gatto

Pulling them is back breaking. I used to do it. Now I top and gather them. Seems to work. Mostly.

KatyMac

Pulling them is definitely backbreaking but once you've them taken by the roots you can be sure the buggers are dead

Username John

Get some sheep.

Added bonus that you'll meet your neighbours a lot more often as well.

Fish out of water

I usually only notice the ragwort in August and September but the only way I find to get rid of it is

Pull it root and all

Bag it

Burn it

Odelay

Pull em after a bit of rain, makes the job ten times easier. Pulling when the ground is dry is a waste of time, stalks will break leaving the roots behind for next year.

Mac Taylor

Was doing a bit of topping today and decided to check, found some but like others have said, each year there seems to be less thankfully, good advice on pulling them after a bit of rain

il gatto

KatyMac wrote: »

Pulling them is definitely backbreaking but once you've them taken by the roots you can be sure the buggers are dead

If you get them early. Otherwise you end up shaking the seeds off.
I'm thinking a knapsack and Roundup might be an idea.

Reggie.

Was at it yesterday evening myself. Fair few of them about this year

Cow Porter

Nobody mentioned it's potency yet, stock will eat dead ragwort and is poisonous

Pull and remove here but don't have alot really

Also it's a biannual plant so did you see similar amounts of it 2 years ago? Roadsides and especially new motorways are full of the crap

_Brian

Firstly it's not something you can deal with in one year.

Spraying should be done earlier, when they are at rosette stage, just a few open leaves and small so I'd imagine the ground needs to be grazed to expose them.

For the last two summers I did a combination of spot spraying with roundup and pulling (pulling is tough going).
Thankfully I can hardly see any now so it's working.

il gatto

Cow Porter wrote: »

Nobody mentioned it's potency yet, stock will eat dead ragwort and is poisonous

Pull and remove here but don't have alot really

Also it's a biannual plant so did you see similar amounts of it 2 years ago? Roadsides and especially new motorways are full of the crap

I think that's the point. I wouldn't bother pulling it because of the look of it
We have land rented out on both sides. The guys who have the land couldn't care less when it's not their own and have let it take over. You can see it spread like a slow tide. Will be at it this evening.

whelan2

il gatto wrote: »

If you get them early. Otherwise you end up shaking the seeds off.
I'm thinking a knapsack and Roundup might be an idea.

stock will have to be away from them after spraying until they are fully dead, i sprayed them with knapsack last year under fences and pulled them about 2 weeks later before cows came back to those paddocks, threw them in skip then

bogman_bass

I used forefront on a feild last year and it did a great job but the feild was out of action for 2 months while the ragwort died


Anybody ever used a rag fork? I hurt my back pulling the feckers last night:mad:
http://www.eazitools.co.uk/equestrian/Rag-Fork-Products.html

djmc

From my own experience spraying and grazing afterwards I have never seen cows touch the stuff.
I don't let them hungry in the field either as soon as grass is grazed they are moved on .
I think cattle don't like it living dieing or dead and will choose grass every time given the choice horse's and sheep might be a different story though.
I also think spraying is the fastest and best way to control it.
And also its leathel in silage
I have heard mixed reports about hay but wouldn't like to chance it.

greysides

Ragwort is poisonous in anything and more palatable when dried out.

diomed

whelan2 wrote: »

pull them, wear gloves

I was 65 a few days ago. When I was about 9 I was on "holiday" with my 8yo brother at my grandfather's farm. We spent a week pulling ragwort in a very big field. I asked my brother a few years ago did he remember. He sure did.

bogman_bass

@greysides - what are the symptoms of chronic ragwort poisoning?

whelan2

bogman_bass wrote: »

@greysides - what are the symptoms of chronic ragwort poisoning?

lack of appetite, wasting/pining away, slow and painful death. Had it here a few years ago in bought in stock. Livers where like concrete, first symptom here was collic, it can start to affect them any time from 6 weeks after ingestion

il gatto

Most animals don't seem to like it but some have a taste for it. Either way it should be got rid of. Left for 2 or 3 years and it'll take over. I hate seeing good land covered in it. Looks terrible.

greysides

bogman_bass wrote: »

@greysides - what are the symptoms of chronic ragwort poisoning?

Adding to what Whelan2 said... in the end aimless wandering, the brain becomes affected, jaundice.

Here's a quick synopsis.

Ragwort Poisoning

Cause

Many plant poisonings, including ragwort poisoning, are most common in the autumn. The highest risk period for grazing cattle is when grass growth is poor, or when very young plants are present in the pasture.

However, the greatest risk is to cattle fed preserved forage, either as silage or as hay, because preserved ragwort is readily eaten but has lost none of its toxicity.

Ragwort contains a range of related toxins, all of which damage the liver. The more ragwort that is eaten the greater the damage. In cattle most cases of ragwort poisoning occur as a result of eating ragwort over a period of weeks or months but the signs can take up to 18 months to develop.

Clinical Signs

• Diarrhoea, with straining, is occasionally seen as is colic
• Jaundice – yellowing particularly of the whites of the eye
• Photosensitisation – damage to pale areas of skin in response to sunlight
• Swelling under the skin and of the abdomen due to low blood protein
• Some animals will develop brain disease with staggering, circling and head pressing.

Death usually follows these signs within a few days.

Treatment

There is no specific antidote for ragwort poisoning. No treatment is of much value in affected animals.

Normal animals in the group should be switched to food that contains no ragwort.

Prevention

Limit access to pastures with ragwort, particularly if grazing is poor. Sheep are more resistant to ragwort so can graze such pastures, provided they are not too heavily contaminated.

Ragwort control by hand-pulling and burning before seeding and the strategic use of herbicide is the best method of prevention.

Ragwort is one of the five plants covered by the Weeds Act 1959. This does not mean that it is an offence to allow ragwort to grow on your land, but it is an offence not to control ragwort if asked to do so under the act.

Do not make hay or silage from pastures heavily contaminated with ragwort.

votuvant

WexTK wrote: »

Hi all,

seems to be more ragwort about the place than last year. The father has a tendency to chop it when topping paddocks, whether that is only spreading it I wonder....

Have a neighbour who lets his garden go abit wild so that doesn't help matters either.

Advice on best course of action apart from reseeding? Spray it in late autumn?

Any on here tackled this problem recently?

Regards.

Hi WexTK

Ragwort is biennial so when you cut it you reset it to year 1 every time.

I've got rid of most of them and I used MCPA because its the cheapest general spray not just for the ragwort. I sprayed for two years before they put up the stem but after that they were virtually gone.

BIL used Forefront this year and it worked really well. We'll see what they are like next year.

Markcheese

Can cinnibar moths be used to control it ? Especially on someone else's ground !
I've seen them strip plants especially in good summers but don't know if you can buy them and what you'd have to do to keep them going -

djmc

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here and ask does anyone know of anyone who had cattle poisoning from cattle eating ragworth either in hay or off the field
And I'm not asking about silage as plenty lost cattle with ragworth in silage but never met anyone who lost cattle due to hay or dieing or cut plants in the field.

whelan2

djmc wrote: »

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here and ask does anyone know of anyone who had cattle poisoning from cattle eating ragworth either in hay or off the field
And I'm not asking about silage as plenty lost cattle with ragworth in silage but never met anyone who lost cattle due to hay or dieing or cut plants in the field.

Me

djmc

Markcheese wrote: »

Can cinnibar moths be used to control it ? Especially on someone else's ground !
I've seen them strip plants especially in good summers but don't know if you can buy them and what you'd have to do to keep them going -

The cinnibar caterpillars is poison to birds etc after eating ragworth

djmc

whelan2 wrote: »

Me

I thought your cattle were brought in after eating silage with ragworth in it.
I have lost cattle myself with ragworth poisoning from silage so hate the stuff and know what it's like.
I'm simply trying to find fact from fiction in that will cattle eat ragworth in the field or hay.

whelan2

They where on a bare field with only ragwort on it. If they have nothing else to eat they will eat it. Either that or the previous owner didn't leave them off the fields long enough after spraying. He admitted both of these. Pity he didn't tell me before I bought them

votuvant

djmc wrote: »

I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here and ask does anyone know of anyone who had cattle poisoning from cattle eating ragworth either in hay or off the field
And I'm not asking about silage as plenty lost cattle with ragworth in silage but never met anyone who lost cattle due to hay or dieing or cut plants in the field.

I know two people who lost cattle from it in hay that was bought in last year.

Miname

Dad lost a couple years back from it in hay. It still eats him up thinking about it.

WexTK

What is the optimum time to spray for ragwort? Could it be done late in the Autumn for following Spring/Summer?
Cheers!

whelan2

WexTK wrote: »

What is the optimum time to spray for ragwort? Could it be done late in the Autumn for following Spring/Summer?
Cheers!

In the spring when its at the rosette stage. Dont spray when there is frost coming as it will affect the kill.

Dozer1

hands in ribbons today after pulling Ragwort for a few hours every evening for the last few days, nearly there now, flipping horrid stuff even with the gloves on.

WexTK

Dozer1 wrote: »

hands in ribbons today after pulling Ragwort for a few hours every evening for the last few days, nearly there now, flipping horrid stuff even with the gloves on.

I hear you brother, strange peace to doing it in the evenings if it has to be done. I have a spade with me.

Parishlad

Must be the weather for pulling ragworth. Cleared a small field of about 3 acres of it last week. Topped it afterwards. Great satisfaction now in passing it in the evening looking nice and clean!
Aside from a few stubborn ones most of them came out easy enough with a pull. Hate the smell of the stuff though. Just seems to linger in my nose for ages afterwards.

I said

I've a hape of it in one corner to be pulled will def spray at earliest opportunity next spring

Bscan86

Hi guys,
At home we've found best method is lowland sheep. They love ragworth, a farm down wind of us make no effort to control it so we're never without it.

kevthegaff

I made silage this year i rented , wss picking for a day. Would u still have any concerns??

emaherx

kevthegaff wrote: »

I made silage this year i rented , wss picking for a day. Would u still have any concerns??

If you picked all that could be seen, you will be fine. An animal won't die or become sick from eating one plant. It's a toxin that attacks the liver over time from repeat exposure.

whelan2

Going to do an area today. Had pulled a load there last year but there's a few there this year. I assume it where I didn't get the roots up last year

emaherx

whelan2 wrote: »

Going to do an area today. Had pulled a load there last year but there's a few there this year. I assume it where I didn't get the roots up last year

They are a biannual plant so, plants that flowered last year do not flower this year unless of course they were topped. Spent the last few days pulling some myself, the backs of my legs and my shoulders are feeling it now.

Think it was definitely the week for it, with the cool days and slightly softened ground.

WexTK

Hi all, thinking of spraying my ragwort with 2.4D after cows in from the fields in November.... just a query as I've never sprayed that late in the year.... is there a yearly herbicide application deadline that must adhered to? Kind regards.

bogman_bass

No but the plant needs to be actively growing to take in the spray so I think November could be too late

whelan2

bogman_bass wrote: »

No but the plant needs to be actively growing to take in the spray so I think November could be too late

also frost could be a problem

Jimlh86

It will most likely have headed out at that stage so spraying would be a waste IMO. Wait til the buggers start coming up next year! I still think you can't beat pulling them consistently for a few years. Of course I never had huge acres to do really

WexTK

Jimlh86 wrote: »

It will most likely have headed out at that stage so spraying would be a waste IMO. Wait til the buggers start coming up next year! I still think you can't beat pulling them consistently for a few years. Of course I never had huge acres to do really

Oh rest assured, I'll think of ragwort pulling when I think back on the summer of 2015 in years to come...:rolleyes:

RobertKK

I have some ragwort to be sprayed in Spring, I see today it is flowering in December...

Odelay

Haven't seen it flowering but was pulling some deadwood ragworth in a ditch today and noticed fresh growth at the base, christ it's going to be some year for weeds and flies.