Early identification and disposal of noxious weeds – as well as good pasture management – is a must for the economic well-being of the region's agriculture communities, say officials.
As part of its Weekly Weed Round Up awareness campaign, Mountain View County officials have been trying to bring attention to noxious and prohibited noxious weeds that have been found in Mountain View County.
Those weeds are wild caraway, tall buttercup, scentless chamomile, Canada thistle, perennial sow-thistle, white cockle, yellow toadflax, field scabious, leafy spurge, ox-eye daisy and common tansy, common burdock and orange hawkweed.
MVC agricultural services manager Jane Fulton said although prohibited noxious weeds are generally not found in high numbers in Alberta, they are invasive and pose an economic threat.
“Many landowners may already be addressing issues with the featured weeds in the Weekly Weed Round Up,” said Fulton. “However, due to their presence in the area and their ability to spread, we are hoping through the Weekly Weed Round Up and the (county's) weed inspection program there is more awareness of regulated weeds, and landowners are able to identify small infestations and take action, as a rapid response is going to yield the best results.”
Under the Alberta government's Weed Control Act, every municipality is required to appoint a local weed inspector, who works on “enforcing and assisting to increase public awareness and involvement to help reduce the introduction and spread of weeds,” she said.
“The inspectors are a resource for landowners, to provide guidance and information regarding weed concerns and their impacts,” she said. “The program aims to foster more of a willingness to prevent and control weeds within the community. It is every landowner's responsibility under the Alberta Weed Control Act, to control noxious weeds and destroy prohibited noxious weeds.”
The Mountain View Agricultural Service Board, which advises the county on agriculture related issues, has an interest in the various control options of regulated weeds under the Weed Control Act, she said.
MVC is offering a spray incentive of 20 per cent off the cost of approved herbicides to combat prohibited noxious and noxious species under the act.
This incentive program is applicable to private landholders, private lessees of public lands, and lessees of county-owned property, she said.
Good pasture management is one of the keys in helping prevent the spread of weeds, says Albert Kuipers, with the Grey Wooded Forage Association.
“Grazing management plays an important role in whether weeds are increased or decreased in the pasture,” Kuipers told the Gazette.
Grazing management involves managing the amount of time animals are grazing at any given point and also the amount of time that each part of the pasture gets to rest, to recover from grazing, he said.
“The whole idea comes down to the fact that if the forage plants that we have in a pasture can fully recover each time after grazing before they are grazed again, then they will be strongly competitive and keep the ground covered well,” he said.
“When it comes to weeds, nature hates a void and it is going to fill it with something. If pastures don't get a chance to recover each time they are grazed, then weeds will take the spots that are left between the plants,” he said.
He added that “once certain weeds get a foothold in a pasture they can spread pretty bad, and then it becomes an expensive proposition to actually get ride of the weeds.”
The association works with agricultural service boards in Mountain View, Red Deer and other area counties.
The association creates awareness of the uses and potential uses of forages and strives to share information on a variety of production practices in the agriculture industry including grazing management, riparian management, environmental sustainability and pasture rejuvenation, he said.
