RAGWORT UPDATE

RAGWORT-IS IT A PROBLEM?
In many fields around Inishowen we see the plant, Ragwort. I have heard stories that they are toxic to livestock and I have written about the matter in the past. Ragwort is poisonous to horses, cattle and sometimes sheep and can cause acute liver damage in young stock and chronic liver damage in older animals, but actually, this is rare. Ragwort, however is now thought to be distasteful to horses and cattle, and they will eat it only if they are half-starved on a pasture that is bare of almost anything else.

In the agricultural depression of the 1930s and during the Second World War, there was far more Ragwort around than there is today. There were no selective weedkillers available, so it had to be controlled either by hand-pulling or by allowing sheep to graze off the young plants, which are less poisonous. There were also many more horses in the country, working on farms or pulling delivery vans. Ragwort poisoning was a recognised disease, but not a major problem.

RAGWORT TYPES

Ragwort (Senecio Jacobea) is also known as ragweed, buachalán and buachalán buidhe. It is a common weed of Irish pastures and thrives on a wide range of soils, but competes best on lighter free draining soils where fertility is reasonably high and grazing not intensive.

There are four main types of ragwort to be found in Ireland according to An Irish Flora (1996) namely:
Common Ragwort -Senecio jacobaea - found everywhere.
Marsh Ragwort Senecio aquaticus - wet fields, marshes
Ragwort Senecio squalidius - mainly in larger cities, rare elsewhere.
Ragwort Senecio erucifolius – found especially in Dublin and Meath.
All four can interbreed where both parents are found.
BENEFITS OF RAGWORTAt least 30 species of insects and other invertebrates are totally dependent on Ragwort as their food. Many other species of insects that eat Ragwort, or require the nectar and pollen from the flowers, can also use alternative plants, however, Ragwort is often significant in supporting viable populations, especially in districts where such alternative plants may be absent or scarce. Ragwort is a major nectar source for many insects,including bees, hoverflies, butteflies and moths.

Harsh chemical action to control Ragwort could have detrimental consequences on the balance of nature in Inishowen. For more on the subject check out the following sites;


http://www.ragwortfacts.com/





Environmenal,horticultural.