Neil Jones wrote:
I have researched this. In detail by looking through the scientific
literature.
The claim that Ragwort is a human health risk if handled is complete
nonsense.

Good, that's what I thought.


It isn't even particularly toxic to animals. AS I keep saying there is
an example in the scientific literature of a horse being deliberately
fed over 20% of its body weight of dried ragwort and SURVIVING! It is
only the cumulative effects that make it toxic.

Again that's what I've learnt sort of reading between the lines of the
(mild) paranoia about ragwort in the horse world. I am a horse owner
with fields that were once very ragwort infested. We have two horses
living on those fields and they (the fields) are now pretty ragwort
free. However from experience I know the horses don't eat the
ragwort, the risk is more (as many people have said) that the ragwort
gets incorporated into hay and then horses can't avoid it because the
taste is not so obvious to them.

I believe also that ponies in paticular, if they are really hungry,
will start eating ragwort and become so accustomed to the taste that
they almost like it. Animals *do* die from eating ragwort but I don;t
believe that it's a huge number and I do believe that there are
probably exceptional circumstances.

There is also a risk in the long term of course as the the liver
damage suffered is cumulative, it may be pretty unilkely to eat 20% of
ones (horse) body weight of ragwort in a season but it's much less
unlikely over ten or fiteen years for an animal kept in permanently
ragwort infested fields.

--
Chris Green )