10 Facts About Ragwort
1. Ragwort is highly toxic to all grazing animals and is one of the most frequent causes of plant poisoning of livestock in Britain. Horses and ponies are particularly susceptible to ragwort poisoning and it can often be fatal.
2. All parts of the ragwort plant are poisonous all year round.
3. Ragwort is one of five injurious weeds specified in the Weeds Act 1959. This gives the Secretary of State the power to serve notice upon the occupier of any land on which ragwort is growing, requiring them to take action within a specified time to prevent the weed from spreading to agricultural land.
4. Ragwort is highly palatable and toxic when cut and dried.
5. Eating a small amount of ragwort over a long period of time can be just as damaging as eating one large amount.
6. Ragwort is deep rooted and a plant will regenerate if not completely removed.
7. Each plant can produce up to 150,000 seeds with a 70 per cent germination rate. Ragwort seeds can lay dormant in the soil for 20 years.
8. Ragwort is biennial with a rosette stage in the first year and flowering in the second year.
9. Younger animals are more susceptible than mature animals.
10. The effects of ragwort ingestion are not pleasant; the symptoms may include weight loss, poor and staring coat, staggering gait, impaired vision followed by circling, blindness, colliding with obstacles, severe abdominal pain, inability to swallow and ultimately complete paralysis, collapse and death. Owners of livestock may only become aware of a problem once these clinical signs appear and by which time it is too late.
Rag-Fork: What is it?
The Rag-Fork is a tool for digging out Ragwort quickly and easily. It uses an innovative leverage elbow action ensuring that the weed and its roots can be removed effortlessly, without the use of chemicals or herbicides. The compact and lightweight design also helps reduce the risk of back strain, even in the hardest of soils.
It’s the fast and effective solution for control of Ragwort and other common field weeds and definitely makes light work of a back-breaking job!
There’s more good news…if you register your Rag-Fork purchase on the Rag-Fork website, in the unlikely event that your Rag-Fork is faulty or breaks whilst digging paddock or garden weeds, they will provide you with a replacement fork or a full refund!
cThe Rag-Fork Guide to Digging Up and Disposing of Ragwort
1. Always wear gloves. Ragwort is poisonous to humans too.
2. Take a bag or wheelbarrow to put the ragwort in once dug up. Ragwort is more palatable to horses when dried. Always remove dug up ragwort from your horses field.
3. Put you Rag-Fork next to the plant root, push down using the foot bar and then pull back and down towards you. There is no need to twist the fork. The fulcrum will push the root out of the ground.
4. Put the ragwort plant in the bag or barrow and remove from your field
5. Put a little rock salt in the hole where the ragwort plant was to dry up and remaining root strands.
6. Burn the ragwort in a safe place.
7. Do this task as part of your daily field checks to keep on top of your ragwort.