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Discussion on Thistles and Daisies in hay | |
Author | Message |
Member: Ellen66 |
Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 1:05 am: A friend asked me about her hay and I thought I'd forward her question to this forum. She writes:'For the last five years we have always gotten our hay from one source and it has always been great hay. But this year we got hay from his new field, and I don't think I have ever had worse hay. I would say about 75% of the bales are more like thistle, rose and daisy hay than grass hay, most of the bales being predominately daisy. I know that daisies are poisonous. How worried should I feel about feeding this to my horses? They seem to eat everything except for the rose stems and the daisy flowers (although I find it painful handling the rose and thistle bales). We reserved a second batch of hay for later pick-up. I hate to back out of a deal, but if the hay is hurting my horses, maybe I should. Unless he can guarantee me good hay for next year I think I will start looking for another hay supplier. Are daisies very poisonous?' Any ideas? Ellen |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 7:10 am: Hello Ellen H,I am unaware that common daisies are poisonous however you can review the question at Diseases of Horses » Poisons , Venoms & Poisonous Plants » Poisons, Poisonous Plants, and Venemous Animals. They certainly would not be considered palatable nor nutritious for horses. DrO |
Member: Tuckern |
Posted on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 - 1:44 pm: Hi Ellen,The hay that I bought last year had alot of thistles in it. My horses didn't have any troubles with it(I thought they might with the little stickers in them), in fact they really liked it, and I just wore gloves when I fed, because those stickers hurt my hands! :0) Nicole |
Member: Sonoita |
Posted on Friday, Nov 10, 2006 - 10:49 am: Hi Ellen,Being a up and coming weed person . I have implemented a weed program in my subdivision and and have gotten up close and personal with them. There are several good web pages on weeds. First off Nicole, the thistle is a noxious weed and if you bring it on your property you will have the weed . Good thing is there are parasites that will kill this. And if you call your local extension office they will probably have them for free. Now unfortunetly hay will have weeds but, we can keep them from spreading by parasites and spraying. www.fs.fed.us/pnw/bmnri/weeds.htm is a good web page with pictures |
Member: Vickiann |
Posted on Sunday, Nov 12, 2006 - 5:38 pm: Ellen -- There are various weeds that are VERY toxic that have daisy-like flowers on them, and some of those can cause serious liver damage, even when the flowers are dried. You need to make certain you have a positive identification of this plant (Is there an agricultural extension service available in your area? Or you could mail a specimen to someone). I would be concerned that though the horses avoid the flowers (they MIGHT KNOW something here!), their health could be compromised by eating foliage of the plant. In most of those species, the foliage is toxic as well, and some plant materials become more palatable when dried. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Sunday, Nov 12, 2006 - 6:16 pm: Vicki, which flowers are you thinking about?DrO |
Member: Vickiann |
Posted on Sunday, Nov 12, 2006 - 7:42 pm: https://www.homeofrestforhorses.co.uk/pdfs/no7ragwort.pdf The Ragwort family would be my number one concern. The geographic range of the species is huge, and poisoning by hay (increased palatability) is a problem throughout this continent, though horses have died from ingesting this plant fresh in the pasture. Here in Florida I believe we have a number of related "daisy-like" plants -- some with yellow centers, and some with green. Some horses won't touch them, others develop a liking for it. |
Member: Vickiann |
Posted on Sunday, Nov 12, 2006 - 8:11 pm: Dr. O, see also: https://www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/plant24.htm There are over 100 species of Ragworts in the U.S. They are now a serious problem in the Western U.S., (also in Canada) and increasingly so in the eastern U.S. (And in a hospitable place like Florida, I believe we have all of the toxic species!) 7 of the U.S. species are toxic. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Monday, Nov 13, 2006 - 7:25 am: Both daisys and ragworts are common plants around here so I pretty familiar with the more common forms of both and we have an article on pyrrolizidine toxicity which is the main action of the ragwort, for more see Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Mouth, Esophagus, and Liver » Plant Poisoning and the Liver: Hepatotoxicty.I guess folks who are totally unfamiliar with plants might confuse the two but the smaller almost round torus (the place where the petals, pistils, and stamens attach) and comparatively smaller less robust petals of the ragworts should not make differentiation difficult but your point of, "if you are not sure, don't feed it" is a good one. DrO |