Tuesday, July 11, 2017 Foxtails. ughhhh ‘Tis the season! If you don’t have animals you might think they are pretty grasses waving the breeze. But for those of us that have animals who step on or near them they can be quite hazardous. When they dry, they break apart and have tiny barbs on the ends that allow them to embed in our animals toes, ears, noses, etc. They burrow in, but never come out and will cause horrible infections if allowed to stay in an animal untreated. So what to do if you have them in a pasture? #1 Don’t mow them! It’s basically planting foxtails for the next year. Those little seeds are also very good at burrowing into the ground too. We don’t use chemicals here so that’s out of the question. We’ve tried vinegar, orange oil and many other natural remedies but I’ll tell you, manually removing them is best. I use the riding lawnmower on the highest setting and the pasture vacuum sucks them into the big container that I use for picking up the alpaca beans. Then I bag them and let them bake in the sun till fall. Many have to be picked by hand. We have less now than we did a few years ago, but we do have to be vigilant. We check dogs feet continually and always watch for any potential problems.
Photo of the day: The dreaded foxtail grass
And the nasty dried barbs 
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