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| Author |
Message |
    
claire sidebottom
| | Posted on Saturday, May 6, 2000 - 3:56 am: |   |
We keep our horses on a livery and so have limited say over the pasture management but as our two are on their own in a field we pick droppings daily and dig up any ragwort. There are quite a lot of buttercups now coming through and an article in a magazine of my daughters says they are poisonous. All the other fields have gor masses of grass so if we move them to spray the field they will be likely to get laminitis. How big is the risk of buttercups and is there anything we can do to minimise it - if we dug them all up the pasture would be full of holes!! |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Saturday, May 6, 2000 - 6:21 pm: | |
Hello Claire,
Some but not all species of buttercups contain ranunuculin, a glycoside. They are a perennial plant with erect hairless stems, and the leaves are divided into three lobes. The bright yellow flowers have five petals and five green sepals.
When chewed it forms a toxic blistering agent, protanemonin. Ingestiong can result in excessive salivation, mild colic, and diarrhea. There are other plants that can do this including hellebore, marsh marigold, clematis, and amenone. You best bet is to spray broadleaf herbicides to eliminate this threat.
DrO |
claire sidebottom
| | Posted on Sunday, May 7, 2000 - 3:36 pm: | |
Thanks DrO. How much buttercups would need to be eaten to cause problems? Thanks Claire |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Monday, May 8, 2000 - 6:38 am: | |
I can find no numbers on it Claire.
DrO |
claire sidebottom
| | Posted on Monday, May 8, 2000 - 4:05 pm: | |
Thanks DrO, if i find out any facts i will post back Claire :-} |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 9, 2000 - 8:39 am: | |
That would be great my pastures are full of them right now so I am studying about herbicides. In all honesty I have never seen a poisoning I could attribute to them but have wondered if it is responsible for some of the mild vesicular diseases I see on the gums of horses.
DrO |
claire sidebottom
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 9, 2000 - 4:15 pm: | |
Thanks for the reassurance anyway. Claire :-} |
gilla
Member
Username: Gilla
Post Number: 2
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, Jun 12, 2005 - 7:58 pm: | |
Hi Dr. O,
I am in Maine and due to the wet spring we have an abundance of buttercups in our fields. I read somewhere that buttercups are poisonous when in bloom and ok when dried. I can't see treating the whole pasture with herbazide so I am wondering if moving down and letting it dry before the horses go on would solve the problem. Advice please? Thank you!
Gilla |
