Most of my AG post are about my small cattle heard and the problems you may experience should you buy a Milk cow or Beef stock. Had a pretty bad drought in my area last year and we continue to pay the price. The money price of over priced hay bought out of state and the actual price of not knowing where the hay was baled and who the seller was. The horror stories of scams and scum bgas can be found on the internet and I have a large scale breeder who really goy worked over. But special LEO and the Feds cleaned up part of that problem. But for now I have been removing Cockleburr plants that was delivered, as seed, within the junky hay. Today was a new experiement that worked out OK. In this I mowed, with a push mower about 1/4 acre of pure trash weeed. I used a new mower and a bagger that works good, even if it is a Wally World unit. Sounds a little crazy to use a gas push mower but with the drought continuing and a burn ban I didn't have a choice. Had I not removed them then they would have showed up all over the place. At least now I have a partial pasture of good grass.
This one the many reasons we butchered all of our cows and went back to raising goats. Goats will eat burdock which is what your mowing. The roots can be eaten its like water chestnut, and its medicinal as well.
I believe in your post that you are speaking of the plants of the genus Arctium. The Cockleburs (Xanthium) are a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to the Americas and eastern Asia. The burdocks are sometimes confused with the cockleburs (genus Xanthium) and rhubarb (genus Rheum). Not even goats like cockleburs. I have found that the cockleburs do have a native beatle like insect that will eat their leaves. So with a small application of herbicide the roots are killed and the plant weakens enough to interest the beatles. Problem is that large areas are expensive for such applications. YMMV
Ok I see what talking about now. I have heard people refering to burdock as cocklebur. I have never seen this in our area but I have hard time believing our goats would not eat it. We dont baby them like most people. OGM
As they say, Read 'em and weep. Pigs die in just a few hours, goats are too smart to eat them. Dangers and uses The Common Cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) is a native of North America where in the past the (now extinct) Carolina Parakeet fed on the seeds. It has become an invasive species worldwide. It invades agricultural lands and can be poisonous to livestock, including horses, cattle, and sheep. Some domestic animals will avoid consuming the plant if other forage is present, but less discriminating animals, such as pigs, will consume the plants and then sicken and die. The seedlings and seeds are the most toxic parts of the plants. Symptoms usually occur within a few hours, producing unsteadiness and weakness, depression, nausea and vomiting, twisting of the neck muscles, rapid and weak pulse, difficulty breathing, and eventually death. The plant also has been used for making yellow dye, hence the name of the genus (Greek xanthos = 'yellow'). The many species of this plant, which can be found in many areas, may actually be varieties of two or three species. The seed oil is edible to humans. Asian species of Xanthium are Xanthium strumarium, also known as Cang Er Zi(苍耳子) in Traditional Chinese Medicine. According to some studies, an active ingredient in Xanthium exhibits significant selective modulation of superoxide anion generation by human neutrophils induced by N-formyl-methionine-leucine-phenylalanine (namely fMLP, acts as a strong chemoattractant), with an IC50 value of 1.72 mcg/mL.[1] Xanthium is also known for its ability to clear nasal and sinus congestion.[2] This plant is a beneficial weed, repelling army worms and other pests from nearby domesticated plants.
Wild cherry poisonis to livestock but I 2 bucks clearing a patch of it as we debate this. Jimson weed is also bad for livestock but anytime a plant starts growing in my pasture the goats kill it. For me I'll stick with goats and not worry about all the plants that are poisonis. Enjoy your cows sir. OGM
Maybe I can have these folks see how deep the roots go! To have a ground penetrating radar survey conducted in Alaska, contact us at: Phone: (703) 777-9788 FAX: (703) 777-3814
My goats would never touch cockleburrs or buffalo burr. They stripped one pasture bare to the dirt (ragweed, tumbleweed, mesquite trees, devil claw, wild sunflowers, sandburr, vineweed, elm trees, purple nightshade, goatheads, spurge, johnson grass, etc) but left those two behind.
Yep, very few things care for Cockleburs. Had goats as a kid, usually donated by the cutting horse trainers as they soon learned to get in a corner and hide from the Horse and Rider. Tough they were but still remember how they could always find a way to leave the homestead or worse yet, eat Mom's laundry on the line or be standing on top of the "Good" car as you walked out in the morning.
Like I said I haven't seen them in our pasture but I have been raising goats for over 15 years and have seen a lot of what people say about goats is pure bs OGM
Seeds are moved by floods or in the coats of animals. They are too large to be moved by the wind, short of a Tornado.
sheep and goats will eat the weeds first. I had a pasture full of burdock move in the sheep they wiped it out never came back
Yup , the different digestive system and method of grazing means all the difference. Goat heads, a single thorn seed pod, will go right through a man's boot sole but a goat eats it like candy. At least cows ignore the goat head!
