Plants NOT to feed to stock

A few plants are toxic to stock. Well-fed, mature animals will usually not eat them, but they are poisonous and those animals most at risk are the hungry, young, curious, bored or naïve.

Toxic plants not usually eaten are more palatable if cut and allowed to wilt so a basic rule should be don’t throw garden prunings over the fence, or grass cuttings that might contain their foliage (and don’t do that anyway as hot grass cuttings can cause bloat and death).

It can take just mouthfuls of plants like native tutu, or rhododendron or oleander, especially in young, old or healthcompromised animals, to make them very sick or even kill them.

Plants to keep away from stock include:

rhododendron azalea oleander yew ngaio cestrum kowhai karaka macrocarpa and pines (needles can cause cows to miscarry) hemlock tutu some lilies, including the large and common arum lily

avocado leaf and fruit skin, particularly to horses

green acorns, especially in young animals but all ages affected, mortality rate is 10-20% and there’s little treatment to save an affected animal.