Ragwort

Watch our video on Ragwort

Ragwort is poisonous to horses and damages the liver when consumed. The poison within the ragwort plant has a cumulative effect, so the damage caused builds up over time and cannot be repaired. This means that your horse will get just as ill from eating small amounts of ragwort over a long period of time as it would do from eating a large quantity in one go.

Can you be certain that your horse hasn’t eaten ragwort before you took over the care of it? An apparently healthy horse could already have serious liver damage and may only need to consume a further small amount of ragwort to cause horrific symptoms. One of the key things to remember is that there is often no sign of any problem until the condition has gone so far that nothing can be done to treat it. In most cases the only reasonable course of action once the signs are visible is to have the horse put down.

Liver failure is a horrible way for horses to die – they may become lethargic or show abnormal behaviour. They can develop photosensitisation, where areas of pink skin become inflamed and painful when exposed to sunlight, like serious sunburn. The affected animal can lose significant amounts of weight. As the condition progresses, the horse starts to stagger about or wander aimlessly. Eventually they may go blind, have great difficulty breathing and often stand pushing their head against the wall. The symptoms and subsequent death can come about so quickly that the owner can sometimes find their horse dead without warning. Scientists at the University of Liverpool are currently developing a blood test to help identify if horses are consuming ragwort. This test will allow horse owners to screen their horses on a regular basis in order to catch ragwort poisoning in the early stages before it causes serious damage. However, further work and funding is required before this test is available.

It is vital that you take the necessary steps to ensure that your horse doesn’t eat ragwort. It is not safe to assume that they will choose not to eat it. It has recently been suggested that the younger plants do not have the bitter taste of the mature ones and it is possible that horses may consume ragwort without realising it. It is widely accepted that the plant loses its unpleasant taste when it dies but loses none of its potency. This means that ragwort found in hay or haylage, or leaves that have fallen off a plant in the field and died, can very easily be eaten unknowingly and will do just as much damage as a living plant would.

Firstly, you must be able to recognise the plant so that you are able to remove it effectively. Ragwort seedlings have a spade shaped leaf that is notched at the top. In its first year of growth it has a dense rosette of leaves low to the ground. You can generally find the seedlings from autumn onwards and they are about 10-15mm in length.

The first true leaf is 10-12mm in length, free of hair and oval in shape with a smooth edge. Over time, the leaves show a gradual increase in the degree of crinkling and waviness and they also become hairier as the plant gets older.

Rosettes – the next stage - can be found from early spring onwards. These circular clusters of ragged leaves are usually dark green on top and covered in a cottony down underneath. The leaves nearest to the ground and the lower parts of the stem can have a purplish-red colour.

Mature plants can reach up to 2 metres in height; the tough stems are often purplish-red near the bottom, but a much brighter green and branched higher up the plant. They flower from May to October and the flowers are similar in appearance to daisies, although bright yellow. After they have flowered, most of the plants die and the seeds germinate in the area where the mature plant had been. One plant can produce many thousands of seeds which are covered with a downy substance so they can be easily dispersed by the prevailing wind. They can also be spread by water or by you and your animals.

This description of ragwort is available to download as a podcast on the ILPH website. This will allow you to listen to the description whilst out in the field to make sure that you are easily able to identify the weed.

As a responsible horse owner, you must ensure that ragwort is removed from any areas your horse can access. If there are only a few plants, the easiest way to remove them is by pulling the whole plant up, including the roots. It is best to do this at the seedling or rosette stage and, if possible, after rainfall when the ground is soft. As ragwort can regenerate from the root fragments, it is important to remove as much of the root as possible. Once the plant has been pulled up, pour some rock salt into the hole – this should kill any roots that might be left. There are specially designed forks available to help in the effective removal of ragwort. As the toxins in ragwort are also harmful to humans, you must make sure you’ve got protective clothing on. Hands must be protected by wearing rubber gloves or sturdy gardening gloves, and arms and legs should also be covered. Ideally, ragwort should be removed before it flowers, but if this is not possible, use a facemask to avoid inhalation of the pollen. If you do come into contact with the plant, the area should be thoroughly washed in warm soapy water, rinsed and dried.

If you have a widespread infestation of ragwort the easiest way of tackling it is to spray the paddocks with a product designed to kill the plant. However, you must rest the field for the recommended time and, as the dead plant is still poisonous, remove all traces before putting the horses back out. Your agricultural merchant will be able to offer advice and information about available products.

A good way to go about eradication of ragwort is as follows;

• In February or March, section off a corridor as many metres wide as there are people (i.e. if you have 5 people to help remove the ragwort, the section can be 5 metres wide). The team can then walk this section of the field, removing any plants that are seen (either by spraying if the field can be rested for the recommended time or by pulling). Then move this corridor across the field until the whole area has been covered.
• Four weeks later, this procedure is repeated across the field the other way. On each pass, the helpers only work within the defined area. It helps if there is a reward for their hard work at the end of each corridor, such as a cold lemonade or beer!
• This procedure should again be followed in April or May, remembering not to spray the fields if they are being grazed.
• In the summer, any flowering plant must be pulled immediately, making sure that you pour rock salt in the hole to kill any remaining root fragments.
• The fields must be walked again in autumn and any plants either pulled or sprayed as appropriate.
• After each session, it is vital to ensure that all plants and fragments of plants are removed from the field and disposed of as detailed below.

By following this procedure, it is possible to completely remove ragwort from your paddocks within 3 or 4 years, provided that seed is not blowing onto your land from the surrounding area.

Once you have removed the ragwort from your field, you need to dispose of it carefully. The most effective way of doing this is to burn the weeds, taking all relevant safety precautions including checking with your local council that bonfires are permitted. Defra can advise on this and other methods of ragwort disposal; their contact details can be found at the end of this information.

Ragwort control is an ongoing process. As the seeds can remain in the ground for many years before they germinate, you are likely to find that you will have plants to remove year after year. If ragwort seed is spreading onto your land from the surrounding area, the first step, once you have removed the weed from your own fields, is to contact the owner of the surrounding land and ask them to do the same. If they do not oblige, you can contact Defra who are able to serve them with a notice to remove the ragwort. If they do not comply with this notice, Defra are entitled to remove the ragwort themselves and charge the landowner for the process. You can obtain further information on ragwort, as well as the forms you must complete to notify them of any ragwort seed spreading onto your land, from the Defra website www.defra.gov.uk. For land in Scotland, any ragwort problems must be reported to SEERAD whose details can also be found at the end of this information.

As mentioned previously, dead ragwort is just as poisonous as the living plants but does not have the bitter taste so is even more likely to be consumed by horses. It is therefore critical that you check your hay and haylage regularly to make sure your horse is not being exposed to it through this route.

For further advice on ragwort, or any other horse-related issues, please contact the ILPH Advice Line on 01953 497238.

 

Watch our video on Ragwort

Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)
Helpline – 08459 33 55 77
Website – www.defra.gov.uk
Email – helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk

SEERAD (Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department)
Environment and Rural Affairs Department Secretariat
Scottish Executive
Room 440
Pentland House
47 Robb's Loan
EDINBURGH
EH14 1TY
Telephone – 0131 556 8400
Email – ceu@scotland.gsi.gov.uk