Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Poisonous Buttercups? – Keep You Horse Away From Them!



Buttercups . . . so pretty! Yes, indeed.  These little yellow flowers found on the fields can, unfortunately, harm your horse causing digestive upsets. You might want to do something about the growing buttercups in your pasture before your horse gets into trouble!



Surely, your field that is field with bright, yellow flowers may appear pretty but these little flowers are a threat to your horses. When these flowers are ingested, toxic oils called protoanemonin from buttercup leaves and stems are released. The result? - Your horse can be seen to salivate excessively, have blisters on his mouth and may even develop digestive troubles like diarrhea and mild colic. The toxicity of the plant may vary according to species and its maturity level, but just to be on the safe side, you need to assume that all buttercups can be harmful to your horse.

Buttercups tend to grow in pastures with overgrazed grass as the weeds do not need to compete for space and nutrients that much. Also, these plants tend to proliferate as they are not that palatable –most likely your horse will not think twice about leaving them alone because they are not good to the taste! But that does not mean you need to assume that your horse will never eat those plants.  If grass in pasture is inadequate or you don’t provide supplemental hay, the horses may start to consume the flowers because they have no choice. They will do it out of hunger or boredom.


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You should not promote the growth of buttercups in your pasture as they are known to be toxic. These flowers can be controlled with chemical and/or mechanical means. If the pasture only has moderate amounts of buttercups, the use of herbicides would be the most convenient option. However, if the pasture is crowded by buttercups, more extensive measures should be carried out. These may include tilling and sowing the field with grass seeds. Extension agents from your local area can help you plan out how to eradicate buttercups from your property.

When pursuing a buttercup eradication plan, it is important to keep your horses away from the pasture two weeks after using chemicals to target the weeds. This will ensure full efficacy of the weed killer and also to allow all chemical residues to dissipate, making your pasture grass safe for horses to eat once again. Be sure that herbicide application on your field is done by professionals who have the required training to handle different chemicals.

The good thing about this entire problem is that buttercups are not considered poisonous if they dry up. So, if you find them in your haylage, do not worry about it. The worst thing they could do is dilute the nutritional value of your hay. To conclude, occasional growths of buttercup will not be a very significant threat, but if your horse graze in buttercup-infested fields then that would be the best time to take action.

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