Ginge Crosby
Well-Known Member
Bear with me.... longish one!
Horses came in at night from October, and about a month after had to go on restricted turnout (one day out in the field, one day spent half in the turnout pen with haylage and rest of the day in stable). Since around mid December 7 out of 9 horses have had diarrhea. So far the only common connection which they all share is the haylage; it is good quality, not too damp and not smelly, sometimes the bale has a small mould patch (say as large as your hand) but it is always removed along with the next good layer. A bale lasts about 4 days. The horses are all happily eating it and the quality from bale to bale is pretty constant. They're all on a worming programme, horses are all of varying ages from 18 months to 20 yrs. They've been on it long enough now to have got used to it IMO, so ruled out sudden diet change. I've been reading up online of various causes, one of which being toxin-producing moulds, or bacterial (salmonella, Clostridia and Ehrlichia risticii (Potomac horse fever)). I've been here for 4 years now and never seem this problem before.
So my questions are, are the presence of these moulds in what looks like a perfect bale highly obvious? If a bale has a small patch of mould, which is removed along with the next good layer (round bales) would the rest of the bale be contaminated? How much are the vets likely to charge for muck samples to see if there are bad bacteria present? And are the vets able to test the haylage for bacteria/toxins? And finally, am I focusing on the common connection (haylage) too hard, and is there possibly another cause??
Thanks in advance
Horses came in at night from October, and about a month after had to go on restricted turnout (one day out in the field, one day spent half in the turnout pen with haylage and rest of the day in stable). Since around mid December 7 out of 9 horses have had diarrhea. So far the only common connection which they all share is the haylage; it is good quality, not too damp and not smelly, sometimes the bale has a small mould patch (say as large as your hand) but it is always removed along with the next good layer. A bale lasts about 4 days. The horses are all happily eating it and the quality from bale to bale is pretty constant. They're all on a worming programme, horses are all of varying ages from 18 months to 20 yrs. They've been on it long enough now to have got used to it IMO, so ruled out sudden diet change. I've been reading up online of various causes, one of which being toxin-producing moulds, or bacterial (salmonella, Clostridia and Ehrlichia risticii (Potomac horse fever)). I've been here for 4 years now and never seem this problem before.
So my questions are, are the presence of these moulds in what looks like a perfect bale highly obvious? If a bale has a small patch of mould, which is removed along with the next good layer (round bales) would the rest of the bale be contaminated? How much are the vets likely to charge for muck samples to see if there are bad bacteria present? And are the vets able to test the haylage for bacteria/toxins? And finally, am I focusing on the common connection (haylage) too hard, and is there possibly another cause??
Thanks in advance
