Going Nuts for Ivy

[bjreroberts]

Has anyone else experienced their cattle going mad for ivy?

Put them all in a new field a fortnight ago with plenty of grass and they have gone straight for a hedgerow and stripped all the ivy. After a week the landlord opened the gate to an adjacent paddock and they have broken a rail, pushed over a post and stuck their heads in-between the stock net and barbed wire just to get to the ivy from the other side.

It looks like I am going to have to use electric fencing or some heras fence panels to stop them or I'm going to be spending a lot of time on fence repairs.

[Saffy]

I think there is something they are lacking if they are that keen on it and I cannot remember what, unless someone says on here perhaps it is worth asking your vet?

Stephanie

[Duncan MacIntyre]

My old boss used to give it to cows which were not eating as tonic - opened their mouths and stuffed it in, and they would start chewing immediately.

It is often thought of as poisonous, but I don't think there is much evidence. But I did once lose a heifer because she went to eat ivy off a tree branch which had fallen into the field. Unfortunately the branch was off a yew tree. One heifer dead, another six Dexters all round eating the ivy but ok. It could have been worse. I don't think yew trees often lose branches, but this one was weighed down with the ivy.

Duncan

[Rob R]

Our churchyard had a tree, a tomb & part of the wall covered in Ivy and the cattle & sheep stripped every single leaf they could possibly reach!

This last week or so the cattle have been knocking back the seaweed supplement, too.

[Saffy]

Well - I suppose there is lots of grass for time of year and there can't be much in it in the way of nutrients. Perhaps if we want to keep them out on this lush grass in November we all need to think about giving a supplement? It isn't usually lush at this time of year.... Mine do get suckler rolls which have a fair bit of minerals.

[moomin]

I give ivy if animals have been ill or off food. It is also good after a bad calving and for retained afterbirth to help them cleanse. Been using it for years!

[Saffy]

http://www.jamesravilious.com/photos/39.jpg

If you click the link above it shows a photograph taken in the 70s by James Ravilious. Of a farmer taking ivy to his sheep.

Stephanie

[Louisa Gidney]

It's the ivy berries that are poisonous, not the leaves. As the previous photo shows, it was used as winter fodder, along with holly and, later, gorse. Particularly when only small numbers of stock were kept. A long time ago an archaeology post grad did some research on the cut off point where such small scale fodder gathering was no longer an effective strategy. High concentrations of ivy pollen on Mesolithic sites were suggested, when I was a student, as evidence that hunter-gatherers may have been using dumps of ivy to entice deer into locations where they could be killed easily.

[Rob R]

A long time ago an archaeology post grad did some research on the cut off point where such small scale fodder gathering was no longer an effective strategy. High concentrations of ivy pollen on Mesolithic sites were suggested, when I was a student, as evidence that hunter-gatherers may have been using dumps of ivy to entice deer into locations where they could be killed easily.

Little nuggets of information such as this makes me glad we have this forum!

[Saffy]

....You going deer hunting Rob?

Stephanie

[Rob R]

....You going deer hunting Rob?

Stephanie

Yes. I distrubed three of them the other day when it was foggy - I don't know who was more surprised, me or them, but if I went dressed in ivy I might get a better picture.

[Saffy]

If you do that Rob...the deer will take a pic of you!!!

Stephanie