Ragwort

Horses die a painful death if poisoned by ragwort.  You’ve seen the plant – it has a yellow ‘flower’ on a long green stem and is often seen in abundance on the side of roads, but is it also in your paddocks! If so, you need to pull it up straight away! Read on….

This is an excerpt from the BHS guide. I urge you to read the whole guide (link below)

“Good general pasture management plays an important role in controlling Ragwort as it can prevent the formation of bare patches in the sward that enable Ragwort to establish itself. Pasture should not be over-grazed and thus stocking densities should be closely monitored. Poaching of the land is to be avoided, which may necessitate resting pasture particularly in wet conditions. It is also imperative to remove droppings and any stale forage such as hay.

Where Ragwort is present, its removal should take place before it has had the opportunity to seed. Each plant can produce many thousands of seeds, so to minimise the problems caused by Ragwort in the following season, early removal is advisable. However, Ragwort remains toxic after seeding, so late removal is better than taking no action at all.” This is an excerpt taken from the BHS guide here: https://www.bhs.org.uk/Horse_Care/Campaigns/Ragwort/All_You_Need_To_Know/Everything_you_need_to_know_about_Ragwort.aspx