Hi everyone

My garden is in Southern Scotland
I've got a laurel hedge between my garden and a field where the farmer keeps
cows. I've been told that laurel is poisonous to cows, so I keep a fine mesh
net to protect the laurel. As a longer term measure, I'm growing holly
between the laurel and the field, but I'm worried that the cows will eat the
holly until it matures
a bit. As a temporary measure, I've sprayed the holly and surrounding area
with a water, detergent and paraffin (gasoline?) mixture.
Does anyone know if the spray will work, or is there a more effective
mixture which the cows hate but won't harm them?

Tom

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone

My garden is in Southern Scotland
I've got a laurel hedge between my garden and a field where the
farmer keeps
cows. I've been told that laurel is poisonous to cows, so I keep a
fine mesh
net to protect the laurel. As a longer term measure, I'm growing
holly
between the laurel and the field, but I'm worried that the cows will
eat the
holly until it matures
a bit. As a temporary measure, I've sprayed the holly and
surrounding area
with a water, detergent and paraffin (gasoline?) mixture.
Does anyone know if the spray will work, or is there a more
effective
mixture which the cows hate but won't harm them?

Tom

Tom,

We also have cows over our boundary. I didn't think laurels were
poisonous to them. Our farmer neighbour has huge laurels, as do we.
He has cut his as a shelter with a drinking trough underneath. The
cows eat both his laurels and ours with no ill effects. They seem to
love it!

Regards
Iris McCanna

The only realistic answer is a proper stock proof fence. Obviously the
drawback is cost. You could consider a blackthorn hedge but it need years to
mature.