CONDITIONING OF ROMNEY SHEEP FOR RAGWORT (SENECIO JACOBAEA) CONTROL

Management options were investigated to determine whether sheep preference for ragwort could be enhanced. Pre-weaning exposure to ragwort and the presence of adult sheep increased intake of ragwort by lambs in the first few weeks after weaning. However, this was of little practical significance for weed control purposes as ragwort-naive lambs accepted ragwort soon after weaning. Ragwort eating by ewes, twotooths and lambs classed as averse ragwort eaters remained unchanged after 10 days confinement on ragwort-dense pasture. There seems little prospect of training sheep that don’t eat ragwort to become useful controlagents of ragwort.