Common Ragwort: Senecio Jacobaea
Above: the pretty yellow daisies of the plant, and below at 'rosette' stage.
THIS PLANT IS POISONOUS AND MUST BE KILLED
DEFRA: How to identify Ragwort
All times of the year we must be vigilant in our own fields to dig up and destroy this plant. The damage it causes, the suffering to horses with irreversible liver damage, who have ingested the weed and the ultimate death of some horses too is just too horrible to bear. Whether it's your own land or not, whether it's your legal responsibility or not, you have a duty of care to your horse, if he's grazing around this weed, get in there yourself with a rag-fork and dig these plants up, please, don't wait for someone else to get round to it. It might be too late.
Most horses will graze carefully around the weed, until they run out of grass. It is especially palatable dried in hay, so be extra careful where your hay comes from. See the field before it's cut if possible just to be certain.
Ragwort is an "injurious weed" and is governed by the Control of Weeds Act 1959.
Enforcing the Weeds Act form:
A new Ragwort Control Act 2003 amends the Weeds Act, giving added protection to horses. The Ragwort Control Act makes it easier to prosecute those who disregard the need to control Ragwort.
Defra have a Code of Practice which offers comprehensive guidance and advice on all matters to do with Ragwort, and it's clear from all agencies that a landowner must treat land infested by ragwort.
The Code of Practice: DEFRA
However, if you see horses grazing in a field with ragwort growing in it, the lines of enquiry gets a little fuzzy, since no one takes responsibility for the prevention, only the prosecution.
I spent all morning on the phone just trying to get someone interested in 2 horses near me grazing around plants waist high in their field. They have since been moved off the land - phew! The RSPCA will of course investigate ruthlessly any horse suffering with obvious signs of poisoning, (too late in my view) and Natural England will act if the land is public. DEFRA tell me it is not illegal to have the weed on land, but you can fill in a form to report the sighting. The problem is that if you dont know who owns the land they will not help so you're on you're own again!
You can download the form from DEFRA's website.
So where does someone go when nobody wants to do anything unless someone is already breaking the law? The answer for me turned out to be the brilliant BHS!! They pledged to send a local rep to visit the site and try to speak to the landowner, and the horses were moved that week - well whoever went, likely saved those horses lives. thank you.
Personally I'm a rag-fiend, and dig up the evil little perishers wherever I see them, in fact many a curly leaved dandelion has lost it's life to my rag-dig! John has 'invented' a cunning little device everyone of us can have: it's a weed puller (The normal two pronged fork that I have dotted in safe locations all around my land), and he's attached it to the handle of my poo-picker (using an old HORSE magazine mobile phone holder). It means I can dig them up every day when I poo pick, and because I'm super vigilant this way, I get them at rosette stage (often tiny), and they're easy to get up. So poo-pick and rag-dig at the same time, and keep on-top of those chores!
Tom demonstrating how the rag fork can be easily attached to the handle of the poo picker, and it doesn't get in the way when he grabs the handle to chew it and carries it off!
Wear gloves, carry a bag to keep the weeds in once you've removed them, remember to try to get all the roots (they can be quite long), and keep them away from your horses. I take mine in-doors and put them on the fire to burn, it's the only way to be sure.
I want to keep my boys safe, and that's why I adopt a very strict policy where Ragwort is concerned: I KILL IT.
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