Asthma caused by shavings?

[Wheresthehoofpick]

Second winter with this mare. Last winter on straw and hay in a large barn (my ideal but sadly no longer available to us) No coughing.

This year she is on a pelleted/ shavings bed. Smaller stable. Soaked hay and still coughs. Vet has been and we are on top of the treatment pathway.

Turned out no hay she is fine.

I was driving home with the shavings sacks in my car and I started wheezing and my eyes streaming. They are Woodpecker dust extracted etc.

She is an allergic type. Could it be the shavings? Problem is other horses around her are on the same so would be hard to eliminate in the environment.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Yes, we had some sheep in on shavings and because we had to be near to the shavings to deal with the lambs, we realised that they smelt of something orangey and caused coughing in humans. We changed to a different kind.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Second winter with this mare. Last winter on straw and hay in a large barn (my ideal but sadly no longer available to us) No coughing.

This year she is on a pelleted/ shavings bed. Smaller stable. Soaked hay and still coughs. Vet has been and we are on top of the treatment pathway.

Turned out no hay she is fine.

I was driving home with the shavings sacks in my car and I started wheezing and my eyes streaming. They are Woodpecker dust extracted etc.

She is an allergic type. Could it be the shavings? Problem is other horses around her are on the same so would be hard to eliminate in the environment.

Def yes. My asthmatics are on Aubiose and haylage timothy, but my mare I think it is tree pollen

 

[poiuytrewq]

Certainly could be. I’m currently on straw and fine but a lot of shavings make me cough and a bit tight chested feeling.
I also notice some yards I go to the shavings beds (various brands) the water buckets get far dirtier, I can only assume a skimming of dust on top.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I find the wood pellets make my shavings beds dusty, I only use a few scoops on the wee patches but have noticed they seem more dusty than before I started using them.

My Louis will cough a bit if his stabled more as well I've noticed.

 

[Wheresthehoofpick]

That’s really interesting. Her head shaking is back. I’ve put her nose and face mask back on for riding.

I am finding the shavings really wheeze making. So far mare and I seem to have similar allergies. Except I haven’t tried the balancer that gave her hives .

 

[Wheresthehoofpick]

Def yes. My asthmatics are on Aubiose and haylage timothy, but my mare I think it is tree pollen

How much Timothy haylage do you feed? I have been trying to do the Maths and work out the costs. She is a 15.3 ISH cob cross. V good doer. I would normally give her ad lib hay. She has grass nuts and a grass chaff as a feed. We steer clear of everything else due to hives.

The Devon haylage bales are 20kg. I think it is £8 per bag.

At the moment I am paying £12 to my YO per week for hay.

Could pay to use steamer.

Just trying to work out where to go next. Steaming hay/ change Bedding/ haylage.

24 hr turnout would be my choice but she would still need extra forage.

 

[meesha]

Baggins coughs on hay, even wet hay. Totally fine on all haylage, even the really dry stuff. I buy rectangular bales from a farmer that last him and 14h pony 2 weeks, it keeps really well as u just unwrap a slice at a time. ... £20 a bale delivered so a bargain I think. They are on woodpecker shavings but in an open shelter, but the shavings don't make them or I cough and I'm asthmatic ...wonder if its an odd batch u had !!

 

[Love]

Funny you should say this, my gelding started being affected by dust 2 years ago. He is fine on the dust extracted shavings I normally use however the last bale I tipped in seemed incredibly dusty and even set me off coughing. He then had to be in the next day for the farrier and was coughing a lot by the next morning. Normally it is just hay that sets him off. Very strange as all the other shavings bales in the pallet I bought have been fine for both of us!

 

[vhf]

Shavings can set me off badly, mostly eyes and nose unless I push it. Don't have to be noticeably dusty. Also straw, hay, and cereal based bagged feed (including poultry feed), and reams of paper! Officially I am allergic to dust mite, but I think I must be allergic to types of mite found in those sorts of product. I expect some horses are the same, there seems to be a mite for every occasion.

 

[Wheresthehoofpick]

I have cleared her stable and started her on haylage. So the process of elimination begins. We have some big flake shavings and it’s much less dusty than the woodpecker. It didn’t make me feel ill!

 

[Melody Grey]

I use bedmax shavings on the lorry and haven’t noticed them being Particularly dusty, though more expensive than small flake here.

I’ve used straw in the stables on deep litter (taking wet out every 2-3 wks) for over 20 years and can count on one hand the amount of coughs I’ve ever had to deal with in about ten different horses- maybe I just got lucky?! That’s with having hay too.

My sons pony coughs a little in summer on hay, though completely stops if I spray his nets- is spraying rather than soaking something you could try? I appreciate that’s a pain in freezing conditions though!!

 

[Wheresthehoofpick]

We have tried both soaking and spraying. Soaking seems marginally better.

 

[Highmileagecob]

If the shavings contain hardwood as opposed to softwood, then allergies and coughing are more likely, also if the wood had been treated with some chemical to prevent rot. I switched to Purebed a few years ago as it is made entirely from pallet wood, all softwood with no anti rot stuff on it.