Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 3 Aug 2012 00:14:28 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:


"Peter James" wrote in message
.. .

Any stock owner who suffers animal deaths from ragwort has only
themselves to blame.

Yeah, I buy some bales of hay from a farmer and there is dried ragwort in
it, and it kills my horses. How is that my fault exactly?

I'm amazed you ask that! It is surely the responsibility of the horse
owner to ensure that the hay they buy for their horses is of good
quality, especially if the hazards of ragwort in the hay are as well
publicised as they seem to be, regardless of the truth of the matter.
Caveat emptor!

It's pretty difficult to detect ragwort in hay, you'd have to inspect
every piece fed to the horses *and* know exactly what you're looking
for.

I'm "on the fence"Â*in this discussion, I am a horse owner and our
fields (when we bought the house)Â*had a lot of ragwort on them which
we have managed to eliminate almost completely over the years.

However I do feel that the BHSÂ*(in particular) are too sensationalist
about the risks of ragwort poisoning.

--
Chris Green