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Technical Notes
- Ragwort Poisoning In Livestock: Prevention & Control (PDF: 180 kB)
- Weed Management In Grassland (PDF: 764 kB)
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Ragwort
Senecio jacobaea
General Description
Ragwort is the common name for one of our most conspicuous grassland weeds. It is potentially deadly to livestock, especially cattle and horses. The most common form of ragwort is common ragwort, but marsh ragwort is found locally in Orkney and Oxford ragwort is found on light soils in Eastern Scotland, Orkney and in Southern Britain.
Ragworts usually just produce a flat rosette ofleaves in the first year of growth, rarely flowering.
The flowering head appears in the second year. In general, common ragwort dies after setting seed, but can persist and flower for several years. The Oxford ragwort is more persistent, but the marsh ragwort more strictly biennial.
In all cases, topping by cutting, tends to stimulate perenniality, and the regrowth is often particularly vigorous.
Biology
All the ragworts are prolific producers of feathery ‘parachute’ wind-dispersed seed, which can travel long distances. They germinate readily where the soil surface is exposed in grass swards. This can occur because of poor sward establishment, overgrazing, drought, winter grass kill, poaching or the activities of rabbits and moles.
There is anecdotal evidence that ragwort is more common than it has been, and that this may be related to the advent of set-aside fallows and new farm woodland projects leaving more bare ground available for establishment.
Advice
Complete prevention of poisoning from ragwort is only possible by denying stock access to infested fields or infested feed.
Denying access to infested fields is usually impracticable, so removing the weed to levels where it does not create problems, and reducing the likelihood of reinfestation should be the aim of management strategies.
There are husbandry, physical, and chemical methods that can contribute to control. On organic farms only husbandry and physical means of control are possible.
For more information, read the SAC Technical Note on ragwort.