Botulism and haylage - how common is it?

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

I am looking for some advice/reassurance. I decided to feed my horses haylage this year, so last year I bought 6 months supply from a well known, good quality, local producer.

All is fine, except that my friends horse and another horse on their yard recently died due to Botulism which was in their haylage (different supplier to where mine is from). As you can imagine, everyone is devastated. I personally know another horse that died of Botulism from its haylage several years ago. I've done some google searches, and also searched on here and instead of putting my mind at ease I'm now even more paranoid.

How rare is this? I use the small bales, so I am able to shake out and check a whole bale before feeding it. I check it looks and smells normal and that there are no foriegn bodies in it, but apparently you'd often not be able to tell if a bale was affected.

For those who are not familiar with this: Botulinum is an anaerobic bacteria (grows in the absence of oxygen) It's commonly present in soil, and animal carcasses. If affected soil or a dead mouse for example is baled and sealed into a bale of haylage, the moisture content and accidity are the perfect environment for it to breed and infuse the whole bale leading to lethal and deadly consiquences for a horse who eats it.

I've been worrying for days now about whether I should dump ££££'s worth of good haylage, and switch to hay, or am I worrying unnecessarily?

My haylage supplier says there is no risk at all, my vet says it's best to feed horse's hay if you're worried, otherwise be vigilant (as I am being) - so neither were much help there!

 

[Dizzydancer]

I have no experience with it, from the sounds of it your friend may have just been unlucky, ino many people who have fed haylage for years and never had a problem. I also feed haylage as mine is much better on this and doesnt cost so much to feed over winter with corn, he is also quite sensible and this year we have chucked a couple of big bales out because him and another wouldnt touch it so we presumed something wrong although ti looked nice (not sure if cats wee'd on it!!).
You could spend all time worrying about it and change to hay but you seem to be sensible your supplier is obviously well known and he seems confident. I would say ou are probably over reacting and understandably with your friends horse. But your horse could go out int he field you ahve ragwort picked and eat some you ahve missed or he could eat anything else poisonous to him we cant stop it all so jst carry on being vigilant and i am sure in a few weeks ou will forget your mad worry moment!!

 

[classicalfan]

It's extremely rare. We have fed haylage for years, in preference to hay, and with nearly 40 years experience with performance horses we have never come across a single case of botulism poisoing caused by haylage.

 

[competitiondiva]

The only occassions I know of have occurred when the horse has naively been fed sileage instead of haylage. I've not actually heard of a case when it was actually as a result of haylage.

 

[Ruth_Cymru]

I'm very sorry to hear about your friends' horse. A horse I knew died from botulism, but that was from grazing on infected marshland. It's the only case I've ever heard of myself. I feed my horse haylage and will continue to do so, but only you can decide what you personally feel happy with, if it will put your mind at rest then go back to hay.

 

[Louby]

When we first swapped to haylage years ago, it wasnt as common as it is now. I found a supplier, got one bale delivered, just in case and it was awful, had bits of soil in it, was very wet and stunk very strong. We got reccomended another supplier by my vet and have used him since. Touch wood, we have never had a problem.
I think you have to be very unlucky to have a problem with clean horse haylage. As long as yours isnt mouldy, very wet, sickly smelling and clean I would try not to worry.

 

[Nailed]

are they certain it was the haylage.. as you can pick it up through wounds and such too. Ive never know botulism to be linked to feeding haylage so dont worry on that front.

Lou x

 

[paddy555]

are they certain it was the haylage.. as you can pick it up through wounds and such too. Ive never know botulism to be linked to feeding haylage so dont worry on that front.

Lou x

it would be a coincidence if 2 horses on the same haylage died through wounds etc.
My horse had botulism very many years ago before the link to silage was well known. The silage was very close to what I have seen classed as horsehage. I had no way of telling. 3 horses became ill from eating it.
I saved my horse but I would never want to go through that again. Nursing a horse 24/7 for 2.5 months and winching it to it's feet was not an experience I would care to repeat. I have used hay for the last 30 years as I just could not live with the risk factor of haylage. At the time mine got botulism (which admitedly was from silage) then another 2 got it from commercially produced haylage.

I doubt that you will find exact numbers who have been affected. The haylage companies are hardly going to publicise information and if anyone gets botulism from suspected haylage then they would presumably have to make a clear link to prove it was from the haylage before they could publicise the fact and discredit the producer.

 

[V1NN]

Hmm i'v known 2 and heard of another one dying from botulism the 2 i knew where at a riding school/livery yard and the haylage quality was extremely poor it smelt rancid but the owner would feed it anyway.

 

[jjbarney]

botulism in haylage is normally caused through the farmer cutting the grass to near to the ground and soil getting into the bales. I make my own and have done for many years and I run a livery yard and have never had any problems whatsoever. Don't worry too much hun. If your haylage looks and smells sweet (mine smells like apple pie, I could eat it myself) I wouldn't worry unduly. Soil in haylage is very bad though

 

[wonkey_donkey]

Mainly found in silage unless the haylage is very wet . . . .

 

[Kokopelli]

Sorry to sound like a numpty but never heard of Botulism so did a quick google and couldn't understand half the stuff that came up.

Could someone tell me symptoms please, just in case- we've had some dodgy haylage this year which the horses turned their noses up at so I just want to be vigilant.

 

[KarynK]

Mine are on add lib haylage every winter fed in feeders. My supplier is excellent and likes to unwrap the bales and inspect them. He would not quibble if a bale was not right and has credited me already for a bale of hay that was a bit dusty for horses.

I have had patches on bales in the past that were a bit wet, but have just thrown that bit on the fire just in case, but I have not had a problem with haylage and I have been feeding it every winter for the last 7 or 8 years (fingers crossed touch wood).

I am sure that you are going to get the odd case from somewhere but as said above you are far more likely for a horse to contract it from the ground or silage than modern well made haylage from a good supplier.

The only thing is that if you leave an unwrapped bale about for too long then it will start to rot or if it has had holes put in the wrap, feed that and there would be trouble. But if you use common sense and the bale smells sweet and looks right then you should be fine and it is much better than dusty hay health wise for horses and humans!

 

[KarynK]

Sorry to sound like a numpty but never heard of Botulism so did a quick google and couldn't understand half the stuff that came up.

Could someone tell me symptoms please, just in case- we've had some dodgy haylage this year which the horses turned their noses up at so I just want to be vigilant.

Its basically a very bad case of food poisoning caused by the spores of botulinum bacteria found living in the soil and in water supplies. Symptoms are severe and affect the muscles like Rabies so you would get muscle tremors, extreme weakness and inability to stand, tongues may hang out, they cannot eat and can drool. They may walk stiffly with a short stride or stumble.

It can also occur in badly made hay!!

This is similar stuff all the actors and vain in society deliberately inject into the muscles to get rid of wrinkles!!!!!

 

[Kokopelli]

Its basically a very bad case of food poisoning caused by the spores of botulinum bacteria found living in the soil and in water supplies. Symptoms are severe and affect the muscles like Rabies so you would get muscle tremors, extreme weakness and inability to stand, tongues may hang out, they cannot eat and can drool. They may walk stiffly with a short stride or stumble.

It can also occur in badly made hay!!

This is similar stuff all the actors and vain in society deliberately inject into the muscles to get rid of wrinkles!!!!!

Gosh sounds horrible! Thank you for that though, getting medical information in simple terms is sometimes impossible.

 

[Serenity087]

Botulism is also what they make botox out of...

Anyway, I've fed haylage with some right interesting dead things in. No harm done.

Botulism is very very rare but, as said, is found in the soil so it's badly cut haylage or silage which is contaminated. I recall botulism in silage completely mucks up the digestivity for cows as well, thus meaning you're not feeding what you think you're feeding.

But you probably have as much botulism in your paddocks as you do in your haylage. If you're going to throw the haylage away, then you might as well stop grazing...

 

[paddy555]

Sorry to sound like a numpty but never heard of Botulism so did a quick google and couldn't understand half the stuff that came up.

Could someone tell me symptoms please, just in case- we've had some dodgy haylage this year which the horses turned their noses up at so I just want to be vigilant.

even though this is an American article it is one of the best ones. There is as far as I am aware no anti toxin or vaccine in the UK.
http://www.thehorse.com/pdf/botulism/botulism.pdf

The first sign for my horse was paralysis of the swallowing mechanism. He could neither suck nor swallow, next sign was recumbency. He was unable to use his front legs to get up. Think of botulism on the same level as grass sickness then you have some idea how nasty it is.

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

Thank you all for input! It must be very rare, otherwise I am sure a lot more people on here would know of cases - I have decided not to throw all my good haylage away!

 

[MadisonBelle]

My mare died of this. I hadn't heard of it before but was told afterwards that it is most the large bales as opposed to the smaller bales. The vet said this was becasue the large bales are done by machine but the smaller bales are done by hand and so any dead voles/rabbits etc are removed.

I'm not saying you can't get it from the smaller bales but one of the first questions my vey asked before ven seeing the mare was is she on horsehage and is it the large or small bales........

For obvious reasons I haven't touched it since but we are on a yard with some 100 horses and I have been there for over 25 years and hadn't heard of it before or since.

 

[BBH]

Once you have opened a large bale haylage how long will it last for ?

We opened one and there's some left after 12 days. It smells n looks fine but i'm no expert.

 

[Dolcé]

We have a fantastic haylage supplier, have never had a bad bale off him BUT he asked us if we would try some square bales he had just bought in (as opposed to his own which has all been fantastic). Opened the bale at one end to be greeted by large chunks of wet mud squashed into the very sour smelling haylage. I immediately phoned the supplier and he is coming to change it for us absolutely no quibble! I'm hoping he brings his own to replace it as it really was foul stuff!

 

[Slightly Foxed]

Once you have opened a large bale haylage how long will it last for ?

We opened one and there's some left after 12 days. It smells n looks fine but i'm no expert.

Depends on the weather, you should usually use it within 7 days or so, but you can get away with longer if it's cold. It might be a good idea to shake it out and make sure that it's not heating up if you're taking longer than a week to use it. In warm weather it may not last 7 days, just keep an eye.

 

[BBH]

Thankyou. We 're keeping it in the barn and it was fine again this morning. We can't get the thing to the field so we're taking it down in haylage nets which means its lasting longer than if they have it free in the field.