What is the Best way to get rid of Poison Ivy in a Horse Pasture?

Question

My husband and I have bought a house with acreage so we wouldn't have to board our horses anymore. We are about to start putting up fencing the only problem is we have Poison Ivy everywhere... What is the best way to get rid of it that would be safe around the horses? I know about round up, and Brush B Gone but I'm worried about using harsh chemicals around the horses especially where they might graze? Does anyone have a good way to get rid of the nuisance plant w/o poisoning my horses in the process?

Answer 1

rip it out for the roots wont be in the ground

Answer 2

i would suit up (long pants, long sleeved shirt, long gloves, pants tucked into socks.. rubber boots.. the whole 9 years) and just go out and pick it.  It comes up easily enough and this is the best way to be sure it wont come back (as long as you get all the roots)

I have lots of it in my back yard, and this is what we have to do since we can't spray stuff where our dog goes.  

That is unless you want to buy goats.. then i would do that!  Its a good excuse to add more animals to the family!

Answer 3

Pour fresh goats milk on it. the fresher the better

Answer 4

We also have too much poison ivy around our place.  The only thing we've found to keep it somewhat under control is repeated use of the stuff you've used - Roundup and TSC's Brush killer (this might be the Brush B Gone).

The best time to spray it is now when the leaves are in full expanse - do you put your horses in at night?  If so, try putting them in a bit early on like a evening when you have the next day off - spray it as well as you can, leave it overnight and until the dew goes off the next morning - the leaves soak up the poision and it kills the plant.  However, successive sprayings a couple times a year are required for a number of years to totally eradicate it.

Although it won't bother the horses, the oils from the leaves can get on them, then you and if you're allergic you've got it.  I'm lucky enough to have never gotten it - I must not be allergic to it as I've been working with others touching the same stuff they have without ever having gotten it.

You cannot eradicate it by digging it up - it's a plant that has a root ball under the ground and trails off to brush all over the place.  Some farmers with food plots for the deer have turned up a field, prayed it well a couple times with Roundup, planted a roundup ready crop such as soy or corn on it, sprayed it a couple times during the crop, then planted their food plot for the next spring - they get beautiful plots this way.  However, I doubt this is an option for your pastures.

The horses seem to be pretty smart about not eating the stuff we've sprayed and we're required to spray the whole fenceline with brush killer a couple times a year.

One thing more, IF you do get the poison ivy on you, I've found a product called "Tecnu" that's readily available at Industrial safety stores like LabSafety.  It's a lotion and if you put it on right away as soon as you know it's touched you, it removes the oil and dries out the infected area.  Mother and my boyfriend get it just awful - even if it's in smoke from the burnpile where we burn yard waste they get it real bad.  They love this stuff - if you buy it in the pharmacy it costs way more than purchasing it from an industrial supply.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I have stinging nettle and thistles in my pasture - it pulls out easy by hand.. with gloves of course.

or I use KILLEX spray.. chances are the horses will not be eating those plants so they wont injest any spray.. dont do this on a windy day...try to keep them out of that pasture if you can have them someplace else for a day thats best.

Answer 6

Don't worry too much about it. My horses eat it and have never had any ill effects. My neighbor got a couple of goats that do a good job of eating it down, but you would have to specifically fence for goats. I have been told they can be hard to keep in. They consider most fence to be merely a "suggestion".

Answer 7

Goats.  They can (and will) eat it safely with no ill effects.  When we moved into our house last year, we turned our goats loose in the field for a few weeks to get rid of brush in a pasture that had been growing over for years.  Today, there is absolutely no trace of the weeds and the goats are grazing on grass (they would prefer the weeds!).

http://www.poison-ivy.org/html/faq.htm

Scroll down about half way...

Answer 8

Pick it! Just kidding, Don't.

I am not an expert on poison ivy... but does it die in winter? Because if it does then i guess you could.....I dont know.....

I guess the only way i can think of is to use chemicals and then wait until a few good rain storms happen (so wait like 3 months) and then maybe it should be ok............Try asking an expert =)

Answer 9

I've also got lots of poison ivy.  It has gotten better over time with mowing and grazing, but it's still around.  It doesn't bother the horses at all, so you really don't need to worry about that.  You might want to subdivide your pasture and treat one section at a time with something like Brush B Gone, if  you'd like it gone but want to keep the horses safe.

I'll put in another tentative endorsement for Technu - my neighbor recently raved about it to me and gave me the end of her bottle of it.  Luckily, I haven't had the opportunity to try it out yet.

Answer 10

well, my mother was growing poison ivy in her garden. (it was hidden by her fern bushes that looked lovely and hide the small ivy plants.) anyway wearing gloves she pulled it out and it hasnt been back. If you have alot i'd think about the goat thing someone else mentioned.

Edit: if you want a master gardener's opinion I know about 3-4 of them I can call. Most to ALL of them deal with their "issues"/weeds/poison ivy/bugs w/o chemcials. . .

1. when using gloves, you have to watch out, you cant used them again b/c they have the oil that the plant makes on them, so i suggest either using a really old pair or just get some cheap owes and pitch em.

Edit: if you suit up, make sure to pitch those clothes too...what makes us itch is the oil from the plants that rubs off.

that's all i got on the first phone call, everyone is at work and too busy to sit down to chat, plants to them are like horses to us,once they get started they dont stop.  so i'll call at lunch time,sry I cant be of more help, after sitting in poison ivy the day before a show I stay very far away from that plant. lol