Is it true that Fresh Cut Hay is really bad for horses?

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Samantha008

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Im on Ad Lib hay at my yard and the bale that was put down a couple of days ago was only cut four days ago. So basically, fresh from the field. It does look green and isnt exactly dry.

Ive never experienced this before, but i know a few of the older liveries went and bought their own. I asked our yard owner who said itll be fine dont worry (he is a farmer though). So i fed it to my boy and last night he got colic. Only very very mild, i walked him round and stayed at my yard until 11 and after the initial few signs, he passed some faeces and was himself again. But i just wondered if it could be due to the hay? I dont want to kick up a fuss if i may be wrong, but if thats a potential reason ill be knocking on my yard owners door very soon!!!

Theres another horse that got colic too although that was from the grass as it is rich

Thanks
 
Bad??? It could be LETHAL - do not feed it.

It will ferment inside the horse and the least of your worries would be a nasty bout of gas colic.
 
Do NOT feed it! You must wait atleast 6 weeks before feeding it!! you are very lucky the colic was not worse. Id be having words with said YO
 
Farmers are used to cattle feeding, ( horses are more colic prone), but it should be dry, else it will heat up and may go mouldy.
Obviously don't feed it again, and when you go over to this years hay, just feed a peck (a small bunch) at first to see the effect
 
No it's not true.

The caveat here to make sure it is DRY before baling. That's a nice mouldy batch your farmer will have - I can't believe he baled damp hay - what a waste - he should have just haylaged it (plastic wrapped) and sold it as haylage.
 
It can ferment etc if not dried properly. And I would not feed freshly cut hay. If its come of the field I always wait few weeks and the farmer constantly checks the bales have not heated up(fermented etc). Due to a cut then rain our local farmer ended up using a field for silage.
 
We have a contractor do our hay for us and have always fed it straight away, in fact broken bales get thrown out into the field and we have never had a problem BUT our hay is always well made - as in dry. Damp hay will turn into very mouldy bad hay and I wouldn't feed it to mine as by the sounds of it it is fermenting at the moment.
 
Provided it is properly dried, there shouldn't be a problem with it and hay that looks greenish is often the best quality. If it is green and damp then I'd be worried.
 
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