Ragwort Awareness Week (12-18 July)
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Time for action on ragwort…The British Horse Society is taking a stand against the poisonous plant ragwort with a nationwide survey to assess the scale of the threat.Almost everyone involved with horses will know about the dangers that ragwort poses – every year animals die painful and unnecessary deaths as a result of damage to their liver from consuming the toxic plant. |
Despite this, ragwort levels seem to be on the increase and the BHS has certainly seen this in the number of cases reported over the last few years. This suggests that the laws governing ragwort (Weeds Act 1959, Ragwort Control Act 2003) are not being enforced and that many horse owners are not taking the threat the plant represents seriously.
There is currently no hard data that can be used to support arguments against ragwort, an issue the BHS believes needs addressing urgently. Data is required to paint a picture of the extent of the UK’s ragwort problem and will be used to encourage better enforcement of ragwort control and lobby for changes in legislation.
Last year The BHS asked people to take a small survey which produced some very interesting results. More than 75 percent of cases reported involved land that animals were grazing on or near. A total of 13,189 horses were identified as grazing on ragwort infested pasture, with the figure for cattle and sheep being estimated as approaching 20,000. In more than one third of reports, the plant was said to cover at least half of the land.
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Hampshire was the most infested county in England, closely followed by Surrey, Cheshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. In Wales, the worst offender was Clwyd, while in Scotland Strathclyde gave cause for the biggest concern. At the other end of the scale, Cleveland, the Scottish Borders and West Glamorgan appeared to be relatively free of ragwort, with very few reports received. |
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While the results of this survey are important, it’s not enough. By carrying out the survey in the same week annually, the BHS is hoping to gain an insight into trends in ragwort proliferation and to strengthen the argument to control it. This can then be used to encourage better enforcement of ragwort control and lobby for changes in legislation.
Therefore, the BHS is once again appealing to all horse lovers to take time to help complete their “snapshot survey” during BHS Ragwort Awareness Week (11-17 July 2011). If anyone spots ragwort during this period they are asked to spend just a couple of minutes filling in the form which will be available on the website during that specific week.
Lee Hackett, BHS Head of Welfare, said: “By now, everyone involved with horses should know the danger that ragwort poses. Every year animals die as a result of consuming this deadly plant yet the problem seems to be getting worse.
“Our 2010 survey was a great success and produced some fascinating results that we can use in our lobbying to get some action taken. But we need more data and we are appealing to anyone who cares about equine welfare to become involved in 2011. The survey only takes a couple of minutes to fill out but the information we obtain might just be what we need to effect a substantial change.”
Rag-Fork Was: £23.90 Now: £18.90 Buy Now
Advice on the dangers of Ragwort from The British Horse Society Read more
Two plants removed from field in the last week (BS30 6NT). We have been removing it since we bought the field in 20007
Our horses are in livery on a farm where we dig Ragwort religiously and spray to eliminate it. However, the livery yard next door is full of ragwort with horses constantly grazing among the plants. This makes all our actions an uphill struggle as the seed blows straight across to our fields. It is really annoying to work so hard to eliminate risk when your efforts are constantly being thwarted by inconsiderate owners who clearly don’t care about the risk.
Its all well and good horse owners and farmers pulling ragwort but when the local authorities, highways agency, canal towpath owners, rail companies, church yards etc etc all just DO NOTHING it seems like an uphill struggle. Are none of these bodies aware of the Weeds Act 1959, Ragwort Control Act 2003? – Do they think it doesn’t apply to them? Do they care? And more to the point what can be done to make these bodies take up their responsibility for clearing this weed. No doubt they will all cry the poor tale, too expensive in man hours etc etc
Are they even aware that it is a bienniel weed – small tight ground hugging florets the first year and then the tall obvious infective plant in the second year.
There is more ragwort on land owned and managed by these bodies than any land managed by responsible farmers and horse keepers and these areas form a reservoir of seeds to reinfect any cleaned land.
have a feild next door to ours that is more ragwort than grass has fours horses in the space I have I one ,owner refuses to do anything and have made threats not only to humans but equines too.it is sickning when we all work to keep our feilds not only ragwort but weed free.The ragwort has now started growing on land which is used as hay .The feild is a small acre and half of it is solid ragwort.
writtle colage has it scattered around its design 3 building, not good for a agricultural college.
i have dug two plants out one of my fields this week, that look very much like ragwort, so, i’m checking the whole fields now, not usually a problem here,
i have 14 acres of grass, i am constantly pulling and spraying every year since we moved here 10 years ago. it is a constant problem. the councils need to clear verges aswell. nightmare.
comepletly de-ragworted my field last weekend, had to dig out another handful today! our livery fields are regularly de-ragworted but there is a field down the road which is absolutley full of the stuff, the two horses in the field are in such bad condition and the owners had a warning about the ragwort last year, they havent done anything about it! People who treat their animals like that don’t deserve to have them!
@Ros Parker
If you cared about horses you would offer to dig up and treat the yard next door to you too. You are standing back and watching them die.
@Sue Hamer
I wholly agree with the comment about the highways agency doing nothing about ragwort I pull it and spray it but with the field being close to a main road where the ragwort is allowed to grow freely I feel like I am fighting a losing battle
Our fields were ragwort free but it has crept back. The nursery over the road has a field full of it. I have let them know but have heard nothing they have also done nothing. Also there is a lot of it growing on the roads and drains near us.
I have noticed since I started digging it up it seems to have made matters worse. I think I may have disturbed seeds that have lain there?? I have a ragwort fork every day I pull the stuff out.
my field had ragwort apear after a lot of rain now i can stopit, as soon as i seeor suspect it is ragwortit is removed, i have my own section of the field and once aside it has loads in but the owners of the horses have made no effort to remove it! it doesnt take long to pull it out the ground..
Our yard has also gone through the tiering process of digging up Ragwort!!!!! The ouwer spends over £1000 per year to eliminate this horrible plant, but we still have to dig it up.
We have the M54 motorway very close to our stables and along the embankments is a substantial amount of ragwort which is never killed. This then blows onto our fields every year causing us massive concerns to our horses, and not to mention th amounts of money its costing to spray the fields!!!!!!
Please please can you do something to help clear if from motorways.
Thanks
hi i am in a 17 acre field that is smattered with rag. an i am so fed up of the battle of pulling it out mostly by myself that i decided to text friends and throw a BBQ in return for helping me pull
it out. unfortunately it rained so only half turned up, but there were still 14 people there to help.we did about 6 wheel barrow loads an then had a loively bbq under the field shelter an fun was had by all and also made more people aware of the dreaded plant.
hi
everthing i read abought ragwort does not state enthing the evidence i have actualy hapened over period 40 years it needs the 80k to develope the test
there are no statistickes for instance if 200 sheep die in one hit they are not all taken for ministry pm then because there is no test the chances are all that comes back is liver damage un nowen cause
se blog on my site
hi, we have 8 acres of grazing land, we find it easy to ragwort as we poo pick, weve done this for years, and we rarely find any ragwort to pick ![ we are also surrounded by ragwort on other peoples land]
hi
if there had been monies to develope test to a degree needed
this i am sure would make it clear to the silly people who say sientifict facts prove there is no significant ragwort problems caused to uk livestock
a very learned friend of mine was also of the opinion that ragwort was not a significant threat untill he witnesed personaly a mass of his own animals die plus it was backed up by ministery pms in [ this instance]
i do not want to see ragwort exsterminated just understood
see landscape blog ragwort ft in both camps gileslandscapes.co.uk