posted 8 years ago
I honestly think toxicity in plants is overrated.
I have sheep, and while most people say they are dumb, I know they are smart enough to stay away from poisonous plants. Case in point is the milkweed which is said to kill them, yet I have a pasture that has plenty of it and I have never lost a sheep to it yet. The same can be said for grazing forest. I do that too and while I don't have a lot of Black Cherry, I have yet to lose a sheep from that. Another one is Rhododendrons, I have a few in my landscape and yet when the sheep get out they steer clear of it. And smooth bedstraw, it s said to cause the sheep to break out in sores around their mouths, but I have yet to see this.
I could go on.
The point is, while I have seen the lists of toxic plants, my experience has been the sheep know what is good and what is not, an instinctively and avoid it. I would never tempt fate and plant toxic plants in close proximity to their pastures, but I don't lose a lot of sleep over this issue either. But then again, I don't have $500 sheep either. I can certainly understand the sense of concern when grazing another person's livestock.