This was sent from the Rio Verde Horsemen's Association to a friend of mine who shared it with the AZBCR website, thought I would pass it along...
THIS PRETTY, COLORFUL PLANT (WEED) THAT THE MAJORITY OF US NOW HAVE GROWING SO WELL IN OUR YARDS IS CALLED "FIDDLENECK". I THINK THAT MOST OF US HAVE BEEN FUTILELY TRYING TO ELIMINATE THEM. GOOD LUCK - THEY'LL BE BACK AGAIN NEXT YEAR. BUT, FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT MIGHT BE NEWCOMERS, THIS PLANT COULD CAUSE HARM TO YOUR HORSE OR PETS. PLEASE READ BELOW.
Clinical Signs: The plant is not very palatable, but will be eaten by animals with no other forage; poisonings typically occur from ingestion of green plant material or material in hay. The toxic components can cause liver failure, referred to as "walking disease" or "sleepy staggers". Signs include weight loss, weakness, sleepiness, yawning, incoordination, yellowish discoloration to mucous membranes (icterus), neurologic problems secondary to liver failure (aimless walking, chewing motions, head pressing). Animals may appear to be normal at first, then become suddenly affected; the syndrome progresses rapidly over a few days to a week.
The bad news, we have a LOT of this in our yard!!! The good news is, it's 95% up front, and not back by the horses... I still have to get rid of it though, don't want it to spread, and what if a horse or donkey got out and ate it... we had a horse almost die of oleander poisoning years ago and I don't want to experience anything like that ever again!
THIS PRETTY, COLORFUL PLANT (WEED) THAT THE MAJORITY OF US NOW HAVE GROWING SO WELL IN OUR YARDS IS CALLED "FIDDLENECK". I THINK THAT MOST OF US HAVE BEEN FUTILELY TRYING TO ELIMINATE THEM. GOOD LUCK - THEY'LL BE BACK AGAIN NEXT YEAR. BUT, FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT MIGHT BE NEWCOMERS, THIS PLANT COULD CAUSE HARM TO YOUR HORSE OR PETS. PLEASE READ BELOW.
Clinical Signs: The plant is not very palatable, but will be eaten by animals with no other forage; poisonings typically occur from ingestion of green plant material or material in hay. The toxic components can cause liver failure, referred to as "walking disease" or "sleepy staggers". Signs include weight loss, weakness, sleepiness, yawning, incoordination, yellowish discoloration to mucous membranes (icterus), neurologic problems secondary to liver failure (aimless walking, chewing motions, head pressing). Animals may appear to be normal at first, then become suddenly affected; the syndrome progresses rapidly over a few days to a week.
The bad news, we have a LOT of this in our yard!!! The good news is, it's 95% up front, and not back by the horses... I still have to get rid of it though, don't want it to spread, and what if a horse or donkey got out and ate it... we had a horse almost die of oleander poisoning years ago and I don't want to experience anything like that ever again!
1 comment:
I don't know if it would work for fiddleneck or not, but we have a flame thrower (not sure if that's what it is really called) that my husband torches unwanted weeds with. I follow along with a hose and douse any flames. More environmentally friendly than herbicides and faster/easier than pulling by hand.
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