DEATH CAUSED BY RAGWORT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20639, 30 January 1937, Page 15

DEATH CAUSED BY RAGWORT

RESULTS OF WELSH INVESTIGATION GREATEST DANGER WHEN FED IN HAY Ragwort poisoning has been diagnosed as the cause of death of 18 cattle belonging to a Haverfordwest farmer. The weed was found in some chopped hay on which they had. been fed. Many other cases have been reported from other districts, many in South Wales. Various methods of eradication have been suggested, including the breeding of cinnabar moths, the caterpillars of which feed on the leaves of the ragwort. It is not generally recognised, writes “Vet" of The Farmer and Stock-Breed-er advisory service, that ragwort is poisonous, probably’ because cattle and horses avoid it in the pasture. Unless driven by hunger they will not take sufficient of it to do them any harm. The trouble arises, however, when the hay contains much of the weed, and as the poison is cumulative in action it is only a question of time before enough is taken to cause very serious symptoms that frequently end fatally. Sheep not Immune Sheep, on the other hand, are supposed to be able to eat ragwort with impunity, but this is not quite correct, for after continuous feeding on the weed, losses may occur. Possibly, the young plants do not contain so much of the poisonous principles as the fullgrown ones, which are richer in its just before flowering than after. The onset of poisoning is very insidious and the symptoms may not come on for quite a long time after the ragwort is eaten. Death may not follow for as long us a month afterwards. In the early stages the poisoned animals appear to be hidebound, and later stagger as they walk, some seemingly being blind, or quite heedless of what they blunder into. Later still, they become very excitable and aggresive. charging everyone who goes near them. In some cases there may be diarrhoea, but usually the constipation is so severe that it causes marked straining. Hence the name "straining disease,” as it is sometimes called, the droppings being dark to yellowish brown in colour. Other symptoms are colicky pains, groaning, a weak, rapid pulse, but no elevation of the temperature. In other cases, the subjects fall to the ground and lie with outstretched head, staring coat, and dull glaring eyes

Post-mortem examination shows the liver reduced in size, slaty-blue in colour, leathery to the touch and tough to cut. The fourth stomach and the small intestines are inflamed, but the remaining three stomachs are healthy.