We usually put the horses on the yard and let them have the grass.This year the yard is full of thistles. I was wondering if we sprayed the yard with weed-b-gone,how long before the horses could eat that grass again? Thanks a bunch.
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We usually put the horses on the yard and let them have the grass.This year the yard is full of thistles. I was wondering if we sprayed the yard with weed-b-gone,how long before the horses could eat that grass again? Thanks a bunch.
That's a bad combo. I personally would still be nervous about grazing them a year later frankly.
Those products are a big mixed bag of serious chemicals and their degradable shelf-life would be almost impossible to ascertain I'd bet.
I'm not sure if thistle is one of the bad plants for horses list, but I'd check that out also. Horses USUALLY (but not always) know what to eat and what to stay away from. If their hungry enough, they'll eat some things they normally wouldn't, as all creatures would.
Is it worth the risk?
I would not do this. Period.
I'm not sure what the active ingredient of weedbgon is but most of the chemicals can have livestock back on within 7 days. Usually it will say in the booklet that comes with the spray.
There isn't much will eat thistle and horses surely don't.
Thistle is extremely hard to erdicate as it has roots measured in feet. Given time it will make a plot of land useless for agriculture.
There some birds such as goldfinch who thrive on thistle seed.
Egon
Egon, Black Angus will eat thistle, but you have to cut it down before they will touch it. Frequent mowing
will send it into dormancy but leave it alone and it will return.
Boy my black angus won't touch them! I keep them mowed off so they don't go to seed but in a week or two there they are popping back up. I'd spary them but I've got alot of nice clover in my grass I'd hate to kill.
Doc, maybe your critters are better feed than mine. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] I have Canadian Thistle. When my boy's were young they used to grab a butcher knife and go out in the pasture and whack down thistle just to watch the cattle eat it. They will start from the bottom end and munch it to the top. Never touch it when it was standing. They would follow the boys around like a dog.
Doc, Misery loves company. I have arrow leaf clover that some years gets chest high but a lot of weeds have got started in with it. Now I have a dilema, spray the weeds... lose the clover.. procrastinate due to not wanting to kill the clover and get MORE weeds.
ARRRRRHGGGGG!!!!!
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
2-4D is the main ingredient, one of the most common herbicides. You can get a much more concentrated 2-4D formula than Weed-b-gone if you have a lot to do. The concentrate is something around 3%, you can get 26% designed for ag use for 2x as much. It will kill Alfalfa, cover, and most non-grass things though. It may kill a couple kinds of grass too but it is safe for most.