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FACT. Common ragwort is widespread throughout the UK, is a dangerous invasive plant and is defined under UK legislation as a noxious weed. It really does not matter from where it came. All that matters is that it is here, now, is causing harm and urgently requires to be brought back under control through the implementation of the existing and wholly adequate statute - The Weeds Act 1959.
FACT. Many tiny amounts of ragwort will damage and even kill a horse, a cow, a sheep, a bird, a man, a child -- in fact, just about any animal with a liver. While the damage from those many tiny doses is accumulating, the animal is virtually unaware that any harm is being done until it is usually much too late. It really does not matter if the dose is acquired in one helping or over a period of years - the result is the same and often tragic.
FACT. Ragwort can poison a horse [cow etc.] even when it [ragwort] is not [growing] in a [the] field [in which the animal is grazing]. This statement has factuality on two separate counts:-
- The bulk of feeding damage is believed to be caused by ragwort incorporated into animal feeds, generally dried in hay or bedding. Dry ragwort looses its bitterness and acrid smell and becomes highly palatable to grazing animals. Ragwort may also become incorporated into formulated foods. A herd of cows was destroyed when ragwort was incorporated into silage made from infested grass.
- Ragwort seeds are assumed to have high levels of PAs within them. Ragwort seeds have been seen blowing in large numbers onto grazing at levels of thousands per square metre. That equates to ca 20kg of seeds per hectare collected on the top of the grass. If that grass is grazed before the seeds are washed down to the soil, then PAs enter the animals food stream in significant quantities.
FACT. Grazing animals (including horses) will readily eat fresh green ragwort.
The route by which fresh ragwort is regularly grazed by equines and cattle was only discovered and published in October 2002. Ragwort has three stages - Seedling - Rosette - Flowering. Seedling stage in grassland is manifest as individual long thin leaf stems with small rounded leaf tips roughly the size of a clover leaf. These leaves appear singly within the grass and are regularly bitten off within a mouthful of grass. When the leaves are small, the animal does not taste the ragwort and happily eats the leaf along with the grass. By the time the leaves reach the size of a 50p coin, the animal may detect the leaf and will reject the mouthful of grass. However, after 2-3 days wilting, the leaf will have lost its bitterness and smell and will be eaten by the next passing horse. (see October Alert 260KB pdf file)
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