Help! Poison Hemlock!

[aimeeday1972]

Hi all,
the people who owned this place before we did tore down an old barn and buried a lot of rubble in the ground. The disturbed earth let a lot of bad weeds get started, and we couldn't get rid of them effectively because of the rubble. Well, and I didn't recognize all of them. The worst of the bunch is poison hemlock: pretty toxic to my goats and pony, spreads like wildfire (though only by seed) and has a taproot to china.
I've been mowing before it goes to seed (now that we got the rubble dug out of the pasture) and pulling by hand as much as I can, but it's way ahead of me. Has anyone dealt with this stuff before? Any ideas for me before my back gives out?

[Old Vet]

If it a small area just spray it with roundup and let it die. You can fence around it to keep the goats off of it. Or move them to somewhere elsewhere for a couple of weeks until it dies and you have the time to pull it off. Roundup is save to use around goats.

[JHinCA]

We have lots of poison hemlock in this area and it is a struggle to keep it down on our property. When we moved her there was a stand of it about 12 feet tall around a trash pile that was about 30 feet around.

We have made some progress by mowing, pulling and digging, but it is a battle. It is a biennial, so if you cut it below ground level in its second year when it is blossoming, that plant won't come back. Just try to get it before it sets seed and each year there will be less.

As long as there is something else green to eat, animals do not seem interested in it. I am afraid to let them be in with it if it is the only green available. I have heard that it is less toxic to sheep and goats than it is to horses and cattle, but would not rely on that info.

Jean

[Yvonne's hubby]

Remove livestock, hit it hard with roundup. The round up is a heavy metal type herbicide that prolly wont bother live stock, but as my vet told me once, "I wouldnt want to eat them or drink the milk". Once the foliage has died back, apply a bit of diesel fuel and burn it. Then you can reseed with grass of your choice.