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Author Topic: Yew hedges  (Read 10247 times)

Weeblehg

  • Joined Feb 2016
Yew hedges
« on: May 16, 2016, 05:41:21 pm »
We've just moved some of our castlemilk moorits onto a new bit of pasture. One side is a yew hedge. I have to confess I'm a bit of a believer that unless pushed livestock won't eat stuff that's bad for them. So I'm not feeling too worried. Should I be?

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2016, 05:46:45 pm »
I believe the reason yew was confined to churchyards in days of yore (needed for making bows) was to prevent livestock eating it, and dying from it. They wouldn't have done that if animals wouldn't touch it, surely  ???
 I would be $@@@@ing myself and fence it off.
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ellied

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • Fife
    • Facebook
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2016, 05:49:47 pm »
Having lost a pony a few years back that started eating a leylandii just because it fell into the field and therefore a novelty, not through any shortage of grass/hay at the time, I would say hunger isn't the only reason for animals to try a tempting new mouthful or two.  And one mouthful of yew can kill a horse/cow let alone a sheep..
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Weeblehg

  • Joined Feb 2016
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2016, 05:53:10 pm »
Hmm, problem is lots of historical anecdotal stuff is generally not informed by evidence. Nothing on the internet I can find to suggest a major problem. Maybe it's like ragwort, fine until you either push the animaLes hard or unless it's cut and drying on the ground.

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2016, 06:24:01 pm »
Yes it is highly toxic and no I wouldn't let any of my animals near it. Read this! You have to read it all!http://poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu/yew.html

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Weeblehg

  • Joined Feb 2016
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2016, 06:29:26 pm »
I'm not disputing it's toxic. Just that the sheep are unlikely to eat it. Repliy appreciated from anyone with direct experience of problems ( or not) when grazing animals next to a yew hedge.

harmony

  • Joined Feb 2012
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2016, 06:50:51 pm »
The risk is yours but ( and I apologise because I have said this somewhere else on here) I know that some mushrooms are fine and some are not to eat. I don't know which are which and I am meant to be more intelligent than a sheep. If animals knew what wasn't good for them they would get poisoned but they do!  :innocent: And not always when there is nothing else good to eat!

Penninehillbilly

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • West Yorks
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2016, 06:59:29 pm »
How would you feel if you went over and found half your sheep dead? is it worth the risk?
not getting at you but if you care about your sheep please don't risk it, can't you run some electric fence in front of it?

Weeblehg

  • Joined Feb 2016
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2016, 07:08:20 pm »
How many horses do you see in fields of ragwort? How many sheep graze hillsides covered in bracken? How many cattle graze in fields with oak trees overhanging them? I manage a nature reserve with hemlock water drop wort and cattle grazing for the last 20 years....None have keeled over yet! It's not a matter of caring or not, but a matter of evidence over Anecdote and old wives tales.

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2016, 07:14:13 pm »
You asked and people have answered.  I am in the better safe than sorry camp.  People have been feeding and mollycoddling livestock for many generations so the instinct to only eat what mum eats has been lost from a lot of them.

Weeblehg

  • Joined Feb 2016
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2016, 07:22:09 pm »
I think I'll gauge a few more views and look for a bit more evidence before making up my mind thanks  [member=75709]Buttermilk[/member]

Weeblehg

  • Joined Feb 2016
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2016, 07:28:28 pm »
Interesting view from Hampshire who seem to be implying they will use sheep but not cattle
http://www.hants.gov.uk/rh/dogs/stock-grazing.pdf

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2016, 08:07:06 pm »
There are yew trees bordering - and overhanging - one of the fields we rent. 

Judging by the level of the foliage, I'd say the sheep probably do nibble it, although I've never seen them do it.

As far as I know, we've never had a sheep poisoned.  But if it was my Castlemilks, in a field that was new to them - I don't think I'd risk it.
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shep53

  • Joined Jan 2011
  • Dumfries & Galloway
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2016, 08:14:26 pm »
We have many yew trees on the tracks up to the fields and over the years I have trimmed any lower branches as every time the sheep walk past to the pens or sheds they have to have a nibble , not had a problem with poisoning but I try to keep them moving

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Yew hedges
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2016, 09:15:28 pm »
Have you considered the welfare aspect of your experiment with the lives of your sheep?  I can't see how what you are doing can be ethical.  If your experiment was duly licensed and carried out according to scientific principles and peer review, then perhaps your actions would be justified.  In a controlled experiment animals would not be left to die in agony, as it would be carried out under the supervision of a vet. There are strict rules on animal experiments, which is what this amounts to.

I can't understand your 'suck it and see' approach.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

 

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