Ragwort vs mouldy s feed as source of stock losses

[Cowmansam]

There was a rsather stupid chap not far from us who put 2 ponies on his fields that were infested with Ragwort, lost both and was trying topin it on all manner of spurious reasons. PM came back.... Ragwort poisoning...

There’s a traveller who keeps 3 Shetland’s in about 3 acres off ragwort near my dads things been in the ten years never looked bad at all can’t weigh it up cos I’ve seen them eating it there’s not a scrap else for them

 

[glasshouse]

No chance; eco landlord .

When does he go on holiday?

 

[Cowmansam]

My mates a butcher who refuses to keep lambs livers in the shop as he reckons its full off ragwort toxins would make sense as they will eat it claims he’s seen studies and it’s a fact not sure I believe him really

 

[steveR]

My mates a butcher who refuses to keep lambs livers in the shop as he reckons its full off ragwort toxins would make sense as they will eat it claims he’s seen studies and it’s a fact not sure I believe him really

Heard the same... Makes sense to me too.

I knew an old lad who refused to eat lambs liver unless it was home grown.... ragwort free. He reckoned heavy ragwort levels in the diet hammered ewes as they got older, they just faded away. Liver damage would cause that...?

 

[Cowmansam]

Heard the same... Makes sense to me too.

I knew an old lad who refused to eat lambs liver unless it was home grown.... ragwort free. He reckoned heavy ragwort levels in the diet hammered ewes as they got older, they just faded away. Liver damage would cause that...?

It does in people seen a few heavy drinkers fade out

 

[Cowmansam]

I get one heifer every other year get photosensitivity and we have no ragwort at all it’s either lords and ladies which we do get the odd one up hedge bottoms or St. John’s wort which we have the odd bit

 

[Cowmansam]

So ragworts certainly isn’t the only thing that does it

 

[flowerpot]

Ragwort accumulates in the liver, once ingested there is very little to be done as the damage is irreversible. Most stock, cattle and sheep. do not live long enough to become ill from ragwort poisoning, horses and ponies do become ill and mostly die, because once symptoms show the liver is very, very badly damaged, being such a large organ. I think some people advice Milk Thistle as treatment. The amount to kill a pony is surprisingly small, but they normally wouldn't eat a lot at a time. They would be very hard pressed to eat growing ragwort, so it usually eaten in forage.
But it is very slow acting, they aren't going to eat ragwort and drop dead, like yew. A riding school round here lost 4 or 5 older ponies which turned out to be ragwort poisoning. Of course there is no knowing what they ate as a young pony so if your own fields are clear they might only need a tiny bit more to tip them over the edge into illness.

If you are pulling ragwort use gloves, have long sleeves and wear a mask. The pollen is potentially toxic and the sap can get through skin. Don't know if its true, but heard that a student had a holiday job at a stud/farm somewhere and was pulling ragwort without protection and ended up needing a liver transplant.

 

[primmiemoo]

I was on some disused land playing about in a boat last night around 40 acre no idea who owns it used to be a skip yard was hundreds off them around all on these plants not sure what they are not seen them before but the bugs seems to like them View attachment 976994View attachment 976994

Good news! The yellow is Fleabane, and the purple is Knapweed. The Knapweed is medicinal, but only use the Fleabane dried, and in your mattress ~~ if it's the one that I'm thinking of.

 

[primmiemoo]

I get one heifer every other year get photosensitivity and we have no ragwort at all it’s either lords and ladies which we do get the odd one up hedge bottoms or St. John’s wort which we have the odd bit

With St John's Wort, they might not mind the pain as much. It's a mood lifter.
But, despite it being all natural, like, it can be overdosed.

 

[Cowmansam]

With St John's Wort, they might not mind the pain as much. It's a mood lifter.
But, despite it being all natural, like, it can be overdosed.

Oh I know how it effects mood an Irish mate makes pocheen with it gives you the strangest feeling he also stick a shot of said liquor in breaking horses feed to make the job easier

 

[Cowmansam]

Good news! The yellow is Fleabane, and the purple is Knapweed. The Knapweed is medicinal, but only use the Fleabane dried, and in your mattress ~~ if it's the one that I'm thinking of.

All I know is I left with a welly full of itchy bits off them I’ve not gotten out all day

 

[primmiemoo]

Oh I know how it effects mood an Irish mate makes pocheen with it gives you the strangest feeling he also stick a shot of said liquor in breaking horses feed to make the job easier

Every day is a school day!

 

[Cowmansam]

Every day is a school day!

You steep the leaves in the pocheen for About a month strain then await your hangover

 

[primmiemoo]

You steep the leaves in the pocheen for About a month strain then await your hangover

Now that's chemistry

 

[PuG]

I know a bag of dead ragwort after being pulled left in a sack by accident just outside a field boundary killed two calf's stone dead that evening.

 

[primmiemoo]

Ragwort accumulates in the liver, once ingested there is very little to be done as the damage is irreversible. Most stock, cattle and sheep. do not live long enough to become ill from ragwort poisoning, horses and ponies do become ill and mostly die, because once symptoms show the liver is very, very badly damaged, being such a large organ. I think some people advice Milk Thistle as treatment. The amount to kill a pony is surprisingly small, but they normally wouldn't eat a lot at a time. They would be very hard pressed to eat growing ragwort, so it usually eaten in forage.
But it is very slow acting, they aren't going to eat ragwort and drop dead, like yew. A riding school round here lost 4 or 5 older ponies which turned out to be ragwort poisoning. Of course there is no knowing what they ate as a young pony so if your own fields are clear they might only need a tiny bit more to tip them over the edge into illness.

If you are pulling ragwort use gloves, have long sleeves and wear a mask. The pollen is potentially toxic and the sap can get through skin. Don't know if its true, but heard that a student had a holiday job at a stud/farm somewhere and was pulling ragwort without protection and ended up needing a liver transplant.

I was ticked off for roguing marsh ragwort barehanded. I know it isn't as poisonous as the great, tall ragwort, but here was a glut of it in those little fields, so had to be tackled before cutting for hay.

 

[Northernlights]

Neighbour with dairy herd put 40 heifers on a droughted sandy hilly field in a dry summer about 40 years ago and lost 20 in 3 months as all they had to eat was ragwort.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Good news! The yellow is Fleabane, and the purple is Knapweed. The Knapweed is medicinal, but only use the Fleabane dried, and in your mattress ~~ if it's the one that I'm thinking of.

Its 'Little weed'
see vid below, only has to be crap modern version in colour to see it ..

 

[Goweresque]

My mates a butcher who refuses to keep lambs livers in the shop as he reckons its full off ragwort toxins would make sense as they will eat it claims he’s seen studies and it’s a fact not sure I believe him really

Its utter rubbish. The toxins in ragwort are flushed out in the urine, its the process of removing them from the body that damages the liver. There is no 'build up of toxins' in the liver of an animal thats eaten ragwort, just a cumulative deterioration of the liver until it reaches a point when it doesn't function any more. Rather like liver disease in alcoholics - they don't have a 'build up of alcohol' in their livers, they just have damage caused by years of their liver having to process lots of alcohol.

That being said I could well imagine that a ragwort damaged liver wouldn't be good to eat, but that wouldn't be because it was full of 'toxins'.