[On Pasture 13 April 2015 by Kathy Voth] Opinion — Kathy Voth asks, “Should we consider legalising weeds such as Canada thistle?" Canada thistle (cirsium arvense, also known as Creeping thistle in Europe and in Australia as California thistle) is one of my favourite pasture plants for a number of reasons: It's alfalfa-like in nutritional value. It is very resilient. It spreads via seeds and roots. It can grow in all kinds of climates, soils and precipitation levels, so it’s always there for us when we need some extra forage. It’s really easy to teach livestock to eat it. In fact, I think of Canada thistle as the “Gateway Weed.” Once cattle are eating it, they look at everything else in their pasture in a different way and begin to sample and graze a little of everything. It’s flowers are pretty, they smell good, and they’re great for bees. But not everyone appreciates Canada thistle they way I do. In fact, we’ve got a long history of hating it. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, who published the very first farming manual in English in 1573, said that “thistyll was one of the weeds that greue mooste.” Carolus Linnaeus who developed the first weed classification system in 1753 considered it “the greatest pest of our fields.” In fact, people have disliked this plant for so long that before Canada existed, its name was “Cursed thistle.” .... We’ve tried hard to comply with the laws we’ve made for ourselves, but our “enemy” has resisted mightily. It has even developed resistance to 2,4-D, the herbicide most commonly used to control it back in the 1960s. Maybe it’s just because I’m from Colorado, but I’m wondering if it’s not time for us to take another look at Canada thistle. Is it time for us to legalise this weed? ... ” I already admitted that yes, it is a gateway weed. I look at this as a good thing, because once livestock are eating this weed, they begin to eat everything else in their pastures. This means more forage for the livestock, and less time and money spent by producers trying to control something that we’ve not had success controlling since it arrived in North America. | ${imageDescription} Comment | Continue reading …. |