Wwyd? Ragwort in haylage

OdyPony

Member
Feb 6, 2014
51
0
6
A quantity of Ragwort has been found in our haylage today. I haven't seen it myself yet, I'll inspect tomorrow. We had 7 round bales of haylage delivered on Saturday. We used the same supplier as we have all winter (field kept, only hayed in winter) and haven't noticed any before. The bales are kept outside so we can't open them to check realistically.

What would you do?
 
Apart from returning it - which will be done.

Would you feed a liver support supplement? Change suppliers? Return all the bales or just that one? Risk more bales from the same supplier in replacement?
 
check with the supplier if they all came from the same field/area. if yes, return the lot. maybe feed milk thistle for a while, depending on how much he's had a blood test for liver function?
 
Realistically I don't think there's a lot that can be done.

If you're really worried then you can ask the vet to do a blood test for liver function so you know what you're dealing with, but as far as I know that won't differentiate between new & old damage so would be no use to you if you wanted to take action against the supplier. If results did show damage you could alter the diet to minimise challenges to the liver & maybe supplement to support it, but liver damage from ragwort is irreversible because chemicals in the ragwort also stop the liver from regenerating.

First of all check that it's definitely ragwort, hopefully it's something that looks similar when wilted & you're worrying for nothing.

Re the supplier, I don't know. Any field could have a patch of ragwort in it even if the farmer is careful & if it wasn't in flower & was surrounded by long grass it would be difficult to see. If you haven't had a problem before then changing could put you in a worse position. If there was loads in the bale I might feel differently though & at the least I'd be asking for all the bales to be replaced with bales from a different field. Being a cynical soul I'd also mark the bales with a permanent marker to make sure the same ones weren't returned.
 
Last edited:
uploadfromtaptalk1392886558737.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1392886580077.jpg

These are the pictures my field buddy sent yesterday :)

Im going to ring the supplier today and see if she has had any other problems.
 
Looking at those pictures, particularly the second, I'm not convinced it's ragwort. Are there any leaves?
 
I haven't seen for myself yet. I don't go on Wednesdays but I'll be going today. I'll see if I can find leaves or not. Thanks for looking :)


Volcy I can't see the attachment?
 
That bottom one I would put a large shirt on is not ragwort.

The top one could be, but I can't see the flower properly, it could be the just going to seed stage.
 
Ragwort is really distinctive - once you've seen it once you can spot it a mile off - the top one is too "leafless" to be ragwort I think - it tends to be bush like (can be pretty big "bushes" though!) rather than plant then stem then flower
 
I spend all summer pulling Ragwort out of the field (it was rather neglected) and I have quite a reaction to it if I touch it. On my way to field now. ...
 
No I didn't take it that way lol I meant I can test it by seeing if I get a reaction on my skin lol. I spoke to hay people who came out (they are very helpful) and took a sample. They don't think it is rag but want to double check, she thinks it's related to dandelions (can't remember name). I got this picture of the flower but couldn't find any leaves. Feeling calmer lol. Thank you all

uploadfromtaptalk1392907526239.jpg
 
newrider.com