2,4-D is a widely used, broadleaf weed herbicide and is a component of several pasture weed product formulas.Application rates, reentry intervals, pre-harvest intervals, reapplication intervals, and grazing/hay cutting intervals are important for environmental, human, and animal safety. Before making any pesticide application, read the label directions and follow them. Below is a list of pasture herbicides that provide excellent control of buttercups, along with the grazing and hay cutting restrictions for each. Step one – Plan your herbicide treatment for November or December, shortly after the buttercups emerge in the fall and while temperatures are still warmish (55 degrees or higher) for several days after treatment. Exhausting the seed bank is the ultimate goal, but that requires several seasons and a trio of management methods. Eliminating the plant’s ability to flower means fewer seeds are added to the field to germinate and grow in the fall. Mowing mature buttercups down, ideally, before they flower, is a good control method in the late winter to early spring. Herbicide treatment on mature weeds is much less effective. There are several post-emergence herbicides that offer excellent control of buttercups, but they are most effective when applied in the fall and winter when the weed is young. Photo: Heather Kolich, University of Georgia They tend to grow where forage stands are thin and in pastures that have been over-grazed during the fall.īuttercup carpeting a pasture in Forsyth County, May 2022. Low forage supply may be the case if you’re seeing a lot of buttercups in a pasture. It becomes an issue, however, when other forage is in short supply. Fortunately, buttercups are so bitter that livestock generally avoid eating them. Mature buttercups – those that are at the flowering stage – contain more toxin than immature plants. Signs of ingestion poisoning include diarrhea, convulsions, and death. The toxin can cause blisters on lips and in the mouths of grazing livestock. Flowers produce seeds, which means that sea of yellow blossoms is laying down a hefty seedbank to germinate next fall.īuttercups contain an irritating oil that releases a toxin, protanemonin, when the plant is crushed through chewing. They grow through the winter months and bloom in spring. They emerge in the fall, usually from seed, although they can persist as short-lived perennials.
While the yellow flowers add pleasant color to the landscape, their presence in the pasture is a potentially toxic nuisance to livestock.īuttercups ( Ranunculus spp.) are broadleaf, cool-season weeds. Photo: Carey Minteer, University of Floridaĭriving around the county recently, I’ve noticed numerous pastures with some to a lot of coverage in blooming buttercups. Buttercup, aka bittercup, ( Ranunculus sp).
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