The Ownaleg.com website alterations to include the Horse Racing and Breeding Syndicate, is all but finished. I still did not get all of the photographs that I wanted. I have been trying to get descent ones, on and off all day. Bliss and Misty have been pains in the neck. Every time they were as I wanted, they move as I pressed the button. These digital cameras are not instant as the old type of cameras. The one I am using seems to have a three second delay after you push the button, so it is not always the Horses fault. I tell you what, I could have thrown the camera on the floor and stamped on it, more than once. The ones not on, will have to be added later and some fine tuning to get the site right.
I had hoped to have sent the lambs to market tomorrow, but because that they went onto another farm they cannot be moved from Denbury for six days. I thought that one of the Rams in the penned area was dead this morning. When I went to feed them one had tuned over on its back and could not get back over. Looking by the mess around it, it must have been like it most of the night. When I found it, the Ram was lifeless, but as soon as I turned it back, it managed to get up. It was unsteady on it legs for a good few hours and looking very sorry for it self.
The Ragwort that we have around the farm this year, is the worse that we have ever had since we first came to live at Denbury. It is one plant. that is really not good for Horses. It is known that Horse deaths by Ragwort poisoning is in the region of a thousand a year, and it is not a very nice death. The toxins in the plant cause liver problems in livestock, and can also cause the death of humans who have been pulling the Ragwort from the ground with their hands.
A lot of the time Ragwort has a bitter taste and is not very edible. If the plant is damaged it looses it bitterness an will be eaten, that is why you need to be very careful when making hay that the is not any ragwort in the field. Making hay early in the year you can easily miss it. This time of year it is in flower and would mostly be standing higher than the grass, the little bright yellow daisy type flower cant be missed.
There is a code of practice and a Act of Parliament on the control of Ragwort, and you can be fined if it is not controlled. The Act was amended a few year back that was greatly watered down to an earlier act that imposed larger penalties. It will turn out to be a big mistake, as when the plant goes to seed it produces thousands of seeds to each flower, that can lay dormant in the ground for decades. We are having to pull it up now, trouble is the plants are getting on for being four feet in height, the wet from the rain makes them quite heavy to pull. The ground being wet helps a little, but there is so much of it this year it become a daunting task, one that we really don’t want If you have any in your gardens, pull it up including the root and burn it.