Hi, I just wanted to ask about my horses living with toxic weeds. I have 30 acres on which grows a great varity of weeds, P/Curse, St John's Wort, B/Nightshade, Fleabane, S/Tussock, Nodding and Scotch Thistle and so many others that I've yet to identify. Most of what I have seems to be 'deadly' to horses. Each season brings new suprises! My main concern of late has been dandilion as one of my horses got a bad case of Stringholt. I had planned to spray the rosettes this month, but after reading the book, I'm not so sure what to do?
Another question, bringing in mulch? What would be a really cost effective type, and where do you get it from?
Any suggestions would be lovely. Thankyou.
Toxic Weeds and Horses
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Hi Jill
Welcome to the NSF Forum.
Part of your question, I believe, has been answered in the Blog below this one titled 'Pattersons Curse and Horses'.
Your 30 acre paddock is in serious fertility decline...its been flogged and hence all the plants that are there are trying to do Natures work and bring it back into a fertile state. The plants are toxic because this again is Nature's way of preventing animals eating the plants whilst they are repairing the degraded soil.
And your horses WILL eat these plants if that is all there is and they will suffer.
You need to feed them with brought in produce until such time as your land is restored and repaired.
Many councils collect green waste and many tree surgeons are looking to offload their woodchips. Council waste which has been sorted into organics can also be used. Remember to place the mulch on the top of the hydrology along the contour. As water (rainfall) pulses thru this it will breakdown and gravity will carry the fertility down hill.
If you give yourself a season let all the weeds grow to the limit of their life cycle so ythat you can maximise the amount of C they sequester and thereby capture the max amount of OM. Slash your paddocks and use the weeds as a fertility/mulch source. More palatable grasses should appear if there is a seed source otherwise broadcast some onto the mulch.
Welcome to the NSF Forum.
Part of your question, I believe, has been answered in the Blog below this one titled 'Pattersons Curse and Horses'.
Your 30 acre paddock is in serious fertility decline...its been flogged and hence all the plants that are there are trying to do Natures work and bring it back into a fertile state. The plants are toxic because this again is Nature's way of preventing animals eating the plants whilst they are repairing the degraded soil.
And your horses WILL eat these plants if that is all there is and they will suffer.
You need to feed them with brought in produce until such time as your land is restored and repaired.
Many councils collect green waste and many tree surgeons are looking to offload their woodchips. Council waste which has been sorted into organics can also be used. Remember to place the mulch on the top of the hydrology along the contour. As water (rainfall) pulses thru this it will breakdown and gravity will carry the fertility down hill.
If you give yourself a season let all the weeds grow to the limit of their life cycle so ythat you can maximise the amount of C they sequester and thereby capture the max amount of OM. Slash your paddocks and use the weeds as a fertility/mulch source. More palatable grasses should appear if there is a seed source otherwise broadcast some onto the mulch.
Hi, thanks for your reply. Fortunately I do have some good grass on the property, and I do give the horses extra feed so they are not tempted to eat the weeds. and they have mineral and salt licks, it just seems that they are attracted to the dandilion. I will check out the post about PC and horses more thoroughly.
Before I bought this land I found out it had been thoughly stripped of all vegetation, including trees, then just left bare. I've owned it about 8 years now and only used it as a weekender. I hadn't done anything with the land other than spaying for tussock. (which was ordered by Council) Now I've moved here full time and want to restore the land's health. I have been planting trees with the help of Landcare (planted about 3,000 trees now). This year I havent sprayed anything, just got the whole place slashed. Anyway I'm keen to put NSF to work here. great to have an alternative to spaying it to death! Cheers
Before I bought this land I found out it had been thoughly stripped of all vegetation, including trees, then just left bare. I've owned it about 8 years now and only used it as a weekender. I hadn't done anything with the land other than spaying for tussock. (which was ordered by Council) Now I've moved here full time and want to restore the land's health. I have been planting trees with the help of Landcare (planted about 3,000 trees now). This year I havent sprayed anything, just got the whole place slashed. Anyway I'm keen to put NSF to work here. great to have an alternative to spaying it to death! Cheers