Stamp in Ragtag to Stamp out Ragwort.

Aug. 18, 2008 - PRLog -- This week sees the launch of a new weapon in the fight against Ragwort.  Ragtag UK, a new business based in Twyford, North Oxfordshire, has invented and developed a device called Ragtag to help horse owners keep their animals safer.  It’s a simple plastic structure that provides an immediate barrier between the horse and the Ragwort plant and works alongside a suitable herbicide to provide a very effective method of killing the plant.

Research shows that herbicide is the most effective way of killing a Ragwort plant, however, the wilted and dying plants become more palatable to horses, but are no less poisonous.  This requires horses to be moved to alternative grazing, which is rarely an option for cash strapped horse owners.  By using Ragtag, the horses can stay where they are.  The plant is sprayed, a Ragtag is trodden into the ground, covering the plant and removed 3 weeks later when the plant is dead, and can then be re-used elsewhere. Salena Newport, owner of Ragtag UK, says ‘The benefit of using Ragtag means that an immediate barrier can be put in place between any horse and any potentially fatal Ragwort plant.  They’ve been designed to be horse and user friendly, and re-usable umpteen times over.  We’ve tried really hard to provide a value for money product that really does work.’

Salena adds, ‘The Ragwort problem was very bad last year; this year it’s worse than ever.  It could be another symptom of global warming with the warm, but wet summers helping the plant to thrive, or maybe it’s a case of apathetic land husbandry where land owners are failing in their obligations to control this plant as Defra legislation instructs.  Either way, it’s bad news. Not just for horses; any living thing with a liver is susceptible to Ragwort poisoning.  Ragtag is not the cure-all answer to the Ragwort problem, but it is a very useful tool to a lot of people.  It’s a very simple device that’s simple to use, and that means it’s more likely to get used, and that can only help make a difference.’

The Ragtag website features many pages of information and detailed photographs to help users identify and understand the nature of this poisonous plant and can be found at www.ragtaguk.com.  Users are encouraged to write in with questions or Ragwort control tips for others.  Ragtag is currently available exclusively from Shires Equestrian Products; one of the biggest distributors of Equestrian goods in the country.  Their web address www.shires-equestrian.co.uk.



Notes to Editors

Following a lot of plastic surgery in order to appear on the channel 4 show 10 Years Younger, Salena Newport was unable to dig up Ragwort, so she invented a new way of dealing with it.  http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/0-9/10yy/episodes...
The result was Ragtag.  The aim of Ragtag is primarily to make the horse safer in the field where Ragwort is a problem.  The company Ragtag UK was launched to take Ragtag to market.




Contact Information:
Ragtag UK
Hawthorne House,
The Rise,
Twyford,
Oxon.
OX17 3HX
Telephone 01295 812413
Mobile 07590587332
www.ragtaguk.com

# # #

About Ragtag UK. Ragtag UK has invented, patented and developed a new product to help in the fight against Ragwort.