[juliem]

I had a heavy cutting session in my garden with the laurel and dumped it in my paddock expecting the sheep (I rent the pasture out for sheep) to ignore it....as lots of other goodies including lilac to feast on.But they loved it....so ended up having to try and burn it.Has anyone else had any experience with cherry laurel?

[Forestlens]

Seriously!? You fed laurel to sheep? It’s toxic!

[juliem]

Which was why I burned it.But seeing as they where eating it and they are all ok today...just interested in any experiences of fatality in sheep from poisening.Does it tend to be less healthy sheep that succumb?
Younger lambs?Certain breeds?
I naively assumed they would only eat poisenous plants......if they were really hungry and little food available.

[macgro7]

I had a heavy cutting session in my garden with the laurel and dumped it in my paddock expecting the sheep (I rent the pasture out for sheep) to ignore it....as lots of other goodies including lilac to feast on.But they loved it....so ended up having to try and burn it.Has anyone else had any experience with cherry laurel?

Both cherry laurel and lilac are HIGHLY TOXIC. when eaten they will cause irreversible liver damage.
Sheep and goats are not the cleverest, I'm afraid, and they will eat both of those plants!

Also dumping cuttings from many trees is fine (e.g. sycamore, maples, Ash and many more) BUT plants from the cherry family (I.e. cherry, plum, cherry laurel, peach etc) are fine (except for cherry for laurel) to eat fresh of the tree, as well as completely dried up like hay. However they are toxic when wilted! When the leaves are wilted they produce CYANIDE, which evaporates/disintegrades(not sure really) when leaves are fully dried.

[twizzel]

Hopefully you’ve told the owner of the sheep that you may have poisoned them