Call to fight aggressive weed

Horizons Regional Council is calling on communities to help fight an aggressive weed which is threatening the region's farms and livestock.

The Manawatu-Wanganui council said it had fielded influx of concerns about how to kill field horsetail, which spreads from roadside drains into land prepared for cropping.

Horizons pest expert Craig Davey said to slow the spread of the plant, farmers should leave it where it is and spray it in place rather than cultivating it.

"Field horsetail takes over in roadside drains. Once it gets into pasture, stock will not eat hay produced from that pasture. If horses eat the weed they run the risk of becoming ill and even dying."

The council is undertaking a second set of trials with AgResearch and Massey University to find more solutions to lessen the impact of the weed.

"The weed is entrenched in our region, particularly in the Rangitikei area but we're looking to find better ways to shrink its potential to change land-use," Mr Davey said.

"It's a very robust yet simple plant - it doesn't have any bells or whistles, it just knows how to grow. It's been dated back to before the Triassic period, over 255 million years ago."

Mr Davey encouraged farmers to think of their gates as their border by checking for the weed at roadside boundaries.

"The more people keep an eye out for field horsetail, the better idea we can get of where it is established and spreading."

- NZHERALD STAFF