Japenese Knotweed - Off topic - sorry

[Saffy]

If you have this horrid weed and are having trouble to get rid of it - invest in a few Herdwick sheep, they seem to love it. There was a bit I couldn't exterminate, right in a stone wall and around the base of a tree in a small area where we have a picnic table. We put the tup and yearling ram lamb in there to eat the grass down and it was the first thing they ate - brilliant!

Stephanie

[Mark Bowles]

Will that work with any sheep breed do you think? I have some to destroy, and we have Wiltshire Horns.

[Broomcroft]

Might be breed specific. Our Shropshire's won't touch much except grass, but our Lleyn's will eat anything they can see, trees, grass, docks.

[Saffy]

The Greyface Dartmoor sheep we have won't touch it but Herdwick are known to be pretty good at eating most things. Perhaps I should market them for it, I think it may be the breed.

Stephanie

[Tim Watson]

Well, if they are that good, can we fit them with water wings because I have a load of Himalayan Balsam to pull by hand!
What a picture that would make!

[Broomcroft]

The Greyface Dartmoor sheep we have won't touch it but Herdwick are known to be pretty good at eating most things. Perhaps I should market them for it, I think it may be the breed.

Stephanie

Interesting. Shropshire Sheep are marketed successfully because they do not bark trees. We and others sell them for grazing orchards, plantations and even vineyards and they fetch very good prices because of their triple function.

Stephanie you could just be onto to something special. At what stage were they eating it? Only when young or when it had grown a bit? I can see you on TV with this one.



Edited By Broomcroft on 1280476789

[Saffy]

It was up about 4 feet high actually.

Stephanie



Edited By Saffy on 1280480197

[redhill]

Hebridians will clear knot weed , (I apologise for deviating from the subject, but our Dexters just love bracken at all stages of growth has anyone else found this)

Sue Osborne

[Broomcroft]

Yes Sue, ours cleared all the bracken last year from the edges of the field.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

We have quite a few yards of field bounded by Japanese Knotweed on the other side of the fence. I think any livestock will eat it and it certainly does not get to any more than an inch or two in height on our side of the fence.

On the bracken front this is a different matter as bracken will cause severe damage to white blood cell production in cattle resulting in fulminating septicaemia often presented as sudden death. It is also a powerful carcinogen in both man and animals and if I were going to eat the meat or drink the milk I would do everything I could to stop my Dexters eating bracken.

Duncan

[Broomcroft]

Isn't that just adult ferns Duncan. In my SAS Survival Book, which I refer to regularly :D, young ferns are a food source.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

All parts and stages of bracken contain carcinogens and can cause high incidence of oesophageal and bladder cancer in both cattle and man. This applies to leaves, stems, underground stems ( they look like roots) and juice. Bracken is nasty stuff, and this is recorded world wide, lots of research done in UK and Kenya by staff of Glasgow Vet School in late 60's early 70's. some areas of Japan suffer or suffered high incidence of human cases because some parts of bracken are a delicacy. It also causes induced thiamine deficiency resulting in CNS signs in horses. Dried stems either outside or in hay etc are just as dangerous.

Duncan

[Broomcroft]

Thanks Duncan. I only had a bit around the edges of one field, but I'm going to clear it myself next year.

[redhill]

what about consevation grazing, having spoken to Mark Purdy before he passed away about BSE he said research had been done on the livers of cattle and told us that the Dexter liver is more akin to a deer than a comercial cattle liver,
perhaps our little Dexters have yet another advantage over their larger relatives,
sorry Stephanie for hijacking your subject perhaps this is something we can talk about with your speaker at the next meeting.
Bill,Castlemears Dexters

[fdb]

Deer don't browse bracken, Duncan is right bracken is a carcogen particularly dangerous to humans around july time when sporilating. The best method to kill it is bruising either whipping the stems once unfurled or better still dragging a hawthorn log complete with stubby branches behind a tractor. They revived the method at Windsor great park with very good results, you may need a year or two though to eradicate it. Cattle have the same effect trampling it, again we saw a rapid decrease in bracket along the fence lines at Savernake after introducing the cattle. Other effective method is Asulox applied in August but as far as forestery is concerned it's being banned so get it quick.(sorry about spelling mistakes)