RAGWORT POISONING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21874, 9 August 1934, Page 5

RAGWORT POISONING

EFFECT ON COWS Ragwort poisoning of cows could be largely avoided by a well-balanced ration consisting of a variety of roots combined with hay and ensilage, instead of the usual winter feeding of hay and ensilage alone, remarked Mr. W, Harris, a member of the Stock Division of the Agricultural Department at Stratford, during the course of an address on animal husbandry, at Strath more. It was difficult to make many farmers believe that their cows were poisoned by ragwort, especially when cows on an adjoining farm, equally infested, did not suffer, he said. Southland was over-run with ragwort, yet cows were not poisoned there simply because the farmers paid more attention to winter feeding and cultivated root crops. He also knew numerous farmers whose land was choked with ragwort, but who never had a cow poisoned by ragwort because they fed a well-varied mixture of roots, hay and ensilage during the winter. When cows were adequately fed, they consumed very little ragwort, and what they did eat did 110 harm as it was absorbed by the good food. A simple method of ascertaining whether a cow was suffering from the poison was to punch her on the left flank. If, instead of rebounding, the fist left an impression with the marks of tho knuckles showing, then the cow was affected. To ensure that little of the fibrous grass, common during the winter, was assimilated to make a mass of indigested matter in the first stomach, it was necessary only to feed plonty of roots, not one kind of root, but a large variety—turnips, swedes, mangels and carrots, with a little green oats or barley.