The start of Ragwort and summer stuff

OwnedbyChanter

OwnedbyChanter

With out my boys life would be bland
Apr 16, 2009
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Raininghamshire
I had today off work so got down to some stuff I have been putting off.

Firstly I ran to the yard this morning to remove rugs and poo pick than ran home to see my parents off that had been staying. I then drove back to the yard schooled Ginger then a short hack, followed by hacking Chanter with a friend.

I hot toweled Chanter after a really good groom popped on a summer sheet and turned him out again, collected Ginger did the same to him as well as scrubbing his socks to make them white again.

Cleaned up the mess, washed down the bins etc in my tack rooms and sweeped out.

Went to winter field and took out a barrow of Ragwort already:frown: I can't believe it is growing so much. I remove it every year on a weekly basis but it just comes back. Lincoln has loads of it all up the road sides etc nightmare:help:

So I have started today and will go to the field every Sat or Sun and removed what ever is there I guess that takes care of summer boredom for me.
 
I know - I went up North with my dad a year or so ago and couldn't believe the amount of ragwort along the roadsides - its all over the place!

I just started my summer routine last night. Flip had a day off ridden work so I ran down to the field about sevenish and escorted him into his little pen (the equivalent of his stable from now on!) and he will endure this for the next six months or so as my feeble attempt at controlling his weight. He wasn't best impressed for the first minute and then the head went down and he munched away happily. This morning it was all snorting and bolting out of the pen at a canter. Give it two days though and he'll be so settled into a routine and I won't even have to take my headcollar with me to escort him in at night. Horses. They love routine.....Humans....we love being slaves to them lol!
 
Sounds like a perfect day to me! I love ragwort pulling, we don't have much but we do have enough to fill a barrow in spring and one in summer, I pull it at small rosette stage so it's Surprising it's fills a barrow!

I am going up to see the horses in an hour, I can't wait, haven't seen them for a week!! Can't do anything though due to the c-section but we are taking the baby so everyone can meet her :)

I'm curious to see the condition of my paddocks as I was shocked how much the lawn had grown whilst I was in hospital this week!
 
We don't have any ragwort thankfully, never have done either, none at the nearest farm either thank goodness. I do however have a lot of nettles and thistles coming up. Storm loves her thistles and nettles but I do try and control them a little (even though they attract butterflies) they can get a bit out of hand if you're not careful. Plus I have the added joy of knowing they drive Rumpelstiltskin nuts, he hates weeds with a passion (I caught him spraying mine through the fence one year) and it's great to know a simple thing annoys him so............heheheheheeee. Anyway, I like butterflies..........
 
We did a barrow load of ragwort rosettes yesterday, we seem to have got loads this year in the bit of the field that flooded this winter so presumably it pushed long buried roots or seeds back up, and the field next to us isn't used and is full of the stuff so one strip at the end of our field is bad but I find that if we do a few while we are poo picking each day it seems to keep on top of it...
 
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We've got very little in the way of ragwort as we produce hay on sure so this has always been controlled.

Having got the go ahead to revert to everything except riding now, I attacked the electric fencing and moved them to the summer side. I also cleaned out my grooming box so it just has commonly used bits in it and I washed it out.

I've got a few dump runs to do and I'm intending to go through my gear and sell the things I don't need, not that there's much of it as I hate clutter.
 
Cheating slightly this year and getting farmer to spray to kill ragwort and some bizzare creeping weed we have acquired as well as checking liming levels to get rid of buttercups. Last year we just could not keep on top of the dreaded weeds.

Worth having everyone in for a few days now to make life better in the summer!!
 
I walked around a few acres yesterday, and tipped salt on a few little rosettes, but I am sure there will be many more to come as things start to grow again over here. Thats if it does ever warm up again!:frown:
 
Ragwort is a nightmare here because nobody knows it's dangerous and they just let it grow. Boss's land has always been well managed, but you see it all over the place and horses grazing belly-deep in yellow flowers.
 
Grass is only just coming through properly here - yet ragwort everywhere - think its going to e a bad year for it as grass just isn't strong enough to stop it taking hold :(
 
juliecwuk said:
Cortrasna - does the salt thing work? What happens when they die? Only that I heard when its dead the horses r more likely to eat them
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It does appear to work brilliantly, but I only started doing it last spring, so this year will tell me if it successfully goes down deep and eradicates a lot of them permanently.

The dead bits very rapidly just die and shrivel up and then disappear completely. I tape off bits of the field and don't allow them access until every little shriveled leave has gone! My donkeys in particular would eat anything, so I have to be very careful with the dying off stage. Yes you are right, they become palatable when they are dead, so a thousand times more dangerous IMO.
 
So pleased it is not just me that has a summer of Ragworting ahead. I clear the field every year and I have had the same field for the last 4 years and every year it is like I have never touched it.:help:
 
Sounds like a perfect day OBC!! :wub:

As for ragwort our field doesnt get any....nor does the whole of the yard we are on....lucky for us it seems to be a ragwort free area :dance:
 
I don't have any ragwort in my fields either, if i did though i would be pulling it up and pummelling it, nasty stuff killed my boy :cry:
 
OwnedbyChanter said:
So pleased it is not just me that has a summer of Ragworting ahead. I clear the field every year and I have had the same field for the last 4 years and every year it is like I have never touched it.:help:
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Can you get it sprayed OBC. It really knocks it back for a few years.

I used to get mine done every 2 to 3 years. You have to take the horses off for a while but its well worth it.

It used to cost me around £250 for about 4 acres, that works out a lot cheaper than the man hours spent relentlessly weeding.
 
We don't get much of it, but what we do get I have to get one of the boys to pull for me as I come out in a horrendous rash from it!
 
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