Digging Up Ragwort, Ragwort Information, Lifecycle of Ragwort

All the evidence points towards Ragwort being a problem for the forseeable future. That's just not acceptable. Of course, as usual there are two camps of people when it comes to making a stand on something. There are the people who decide that they neither know, nor care about the problem, and I include in that group,the people, horse owners or otherwise who just plainly refuse to do their duty to care for the welfare of their horses and other peoples. The rest of us; you know the ones, out there, in the wind and the rain, gloves and wheelbarrow in one hand, poo-picker/ragfork in the other, will keep fighting this thing till we get somewhere. We know that the current methods of dealing with it aren't failsafe, but until there's an alternative, we've got no choice.

I speak from experience about the first group of people. We rent 4 acres of pretty good grazing, surrounded by hedges on 3 sides, street lighting at the front, on a bit of a slope so that even in winter, 80% of the field stays green. The rent's good, the landlord is good, but then we do our bit by keeping it as tidy as we can and poo picking every day. Next door to us however is a totally different story. The man that owns the field has just recieved a huge sum of money from a housing developer just to guarantee first option to purchase if/when planning permission is given to build on it. The man has 2 old hunters. One of them, a sad old bay is on three legs most of the time. The other horse, a beautiful grey that jumps like a stag apparently, is at least sound and fairly healthy to look at. The RSPCA, however, are fairly regular visitors. The field is about the same size as ours, and sides onto the back gardens of houses around the corner from where we live. The field is a sea of ragwort. The horses never have hay, food or rugs. I don't even consider the possibility that they might be wormed or vaccinated. So these horses live in a ragwort infestation, and as quickly, well, lets face it, quicker than I can dig up the ragwort in our field, we are contaminated with more. The prevailing wind where we are, comes straight across the neighbour's field across ours and onto the farm next door, who also keep livestock.
This man refuses to do anything to care for his animals. It's no suprise atall that he shows no concern about the welfare of others. The only reason he still keeps the animals is apparently to make sure his land maintains its agricultural status. In the area where we are, there is a desperate need for building land, and his is the on the edge of the village and ripe for development.
So, in this instance, the RSPCA are aware of the situation, a local person informed me the other day that on numerous occasions, notices have been put on the gate regarding the Ragwort situation, and he has been seen just tearing them off the gate and throwing them to the floor. He knows the score but his only interest is the money attached to the land.

The trouble is, people like this, with an appalling sense of social responsibility are never going to change from the goodness of their hearts. Only legal hassle and expensive fines will make a difference. But that really is another battle. Not one I've started yet, but rest assured, it's in the pipeline!
So the onus is on us! The dutiful, considerate ones; the people that really do care about their animals.

That's where Ragtag comes in. I was in the herbicidal spray camp when it comes to getting rid of Ragwort. We do have a ragfork, and it works well, just not well enough. It does take out the root, and I will continue to keep it as a valuable part of my toolkit, but it just doesn't take out enough of the roots to make sure that they don't come back again. It's pointless digging it up once to then have to do it in a months time when there are dozens more seedlings.
The trouble with the spray wasn't having to go round spraying each and every plant, that was easy. The results were good, and consistent. The problem is having nowhere else to keep the horses while the poison works and the plants rot back enough to know the root was no longer viable. I set my brain to coming up with an idea for a barrier to keep the horse away from the plant.

So here it is.

Ragtag is a rigid plastic device designed to be used in conjunction with herbicidal spray. The target plant is sprayed according to the manufacturers instructions, the Ragtag is placed over the top, ensuring that all leaves are tucked inside. Then you just stamp it down into the ground. It's as simple as that. In about 3 weeks time, the herbicide will have done its job. You simply lever the Ragtag out of the ground with a hoofpick or strong fingers, clear away what's left and the Ragtag is ready to use again. There are of course tips and guidelines to make sure you get the best out of it, but in a nutshell, that's it.