Author Topic: Is ragwort poisonous? (Read 11559 times)

Factotum · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2012, 09:24:18 am »

Ah, see that L&M has posted much the same comment, apologies for repeating. Note to self, must type faster...

Sue

thepoisongarden · « **Reply #16 on:** June 25, 2012, 08:01:20 am »

deepinthewoods

Any link that goes to anywhere other than the DEFRA code of practice is worthless.

I'm not trying to make any 'pro' or 'anti' ragwort point. I'm just saying the primary source is available and does not support tizaala's final point.

It is the old 'you can have your own opinion but you can't have your own truth'. You can have your opinion on what should be done about ragwort but the truth is in the Code of Practice and that is the only document that matters.

SteveHants · « **Reply #17 on:** June 25, 2012, 08:49:57 am »

Well, it is and it isn't. I pull ragwort where I see it because I feel a moral obligation to other stock keepers. Farmers are all in it together and a bit of mutual understanding is often how the countryside functions.

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2012, 09:27:50 am »

Quote from: thepoisongarden on June 25, 2012, 08:01:20 am

deepinthewoods

Any link that goes to anywhere other than the DEFRA code of practice is worthless.

Thats not true, except from the point that the code of practice represents what the government says should be done in legal obligation.
Which we have all agreed is there is not an amibition for total eradication in all areas BUT there IS a legal obligation to remove ragwort when in proximity to grazing animals or hay crops. The latter is important, since ragwort is more dangerous when dried in hay and people not controlling it due to not thinking of their area as livestock area need to do more research on what the fields around them are used for - if it is for hay or silage they need to control the ragwort .
Its all an academic argument anyway, as said before if every livestock keeper removed every piece of ragwort on their land the plant would still be extremely common and not remotely endangered due to its habit of growing on inaccessible and waste ground. So I'm not sure that illustrating the' qualified nature' of the obligation to remove ragwort achieves very much other than intellectual satisfaction, since the real problem is the number of landowners and managers who do not remove ragwort where they should be, and not remotely people not removing it where they dont have to.