A secret weapon called a 'Lazy Dog' is going into battle in Pembrokeshire this summer against an insidious yellow-headed enemy.
In the firing line is the pretty - but harmful - common ragwort and the troops will be using the odd-looking but effective Lazy Dog Weed Digger. This is based on a three-pronged fork with a latticework handle and a foot rest for digging.
Masterminding the county-wide campaign is the Pembrokeshire Grazing Forum.
One of the organisations involved is the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and farm conservation officer Geraint Jones and colleagues will be going into 'action' soon.
Said Geraint: "Common ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) may look pretty but it is very poisonous to livestock. A widespread biennial plant in the countryside, it contains a number of alkaloids which affect the liver of animals and can prove fatal. Cattle and horses are particularly vulnerable and young stock is more susceptible than adult animals.
"Its yellow flowers appear from June onwards and the long plants produce large numbers of seeds during August and September."
Various county sites will be targeted and the plants will be 'pulled' and disposed of safely.
Geraint appealed to the public not to pull ragwort themselves.
"Ragwort is not eaten by most animals because it has a bitter and unpalatable taste - but this taste disappears once the plant has been cut.
"If pulled and left in areas to which livestock have access, the risk of animal poisoning increases."
Ragwort does have many biodiversity benefits with over 300 invertebrate species recorded as using it. The aim of the initiative is to control the plant rather than eradicate it, he added.