Mold in feed?

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travelmad

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So a little while ago found mold on saddles which had been treated and stored for winter, wasn't happy, cursed our garden shed, treated the saddles after advice from kind folks on here...


But... Wnt to get feed today - have stockpiles of 5 bags of conditioning cubes in sme shed, and outside of them was moldy too... Have opened 2, and some of the cubes are green with mold. Tried to go through both bags to see if it was only the nuts at the top but seems like it's sporadic the whole way through. I have chucked both these bags but anyone got advise about the other 3?

OH (not known for his horse knowledge and has close to had giant feeding accidents with the horses before) reckons it might not be so bad, penicillin grows on mold, and maybe we can see if horses are ok to eat the non-mouldy cubes in the bags if we pick out mouldy ones? Any thoughts? Should I chuck them all? It's like £60 quid of feed (but if they got colic that would be more expensive!).

I'm quite cross with baileys that mould can get in through the bags, but I assume the fault is mine as it was clearly not a cool, dry space to store (that said it's a shed with no obvious leaks, relatively warm, etc). Is it worth reporting to baileys?

What would you do?
 
I would chuck it. How long have you had them in storage? If it's been a while I don't think Baileys will do anything, as it's not their fault if they've got damp after purchase.

You'd never forgive yourself if the horses colicked :(
 
It's not Baileys fault, but yours for poor storage. And, yes you need to chuck it out - unless you want poorly nags.
 
Report to feed company?! Erm no. Your fault. I wouldn't feed to the horses. Mould may not do any harm or it may cause colic. Unless you test it you won't know whether its penecillin or another type of mould and anyway I have no idea if horses can have penecillin. I expect its the same as with human food where mould will have gone all through it with only the most advanced bits being visible to the naked eye.
 
FWIW I keep my pellet feed in my house as I know I won't get through it quickly enough if I store it anywhere outdoors. It's in my kitchen at the mo! :eek: Not ideal but it's fairly pricey and I'll be damned if I let that go mouldy!
 
Cool, thanks all, yeah will chuck it, not worth the risk... Boo to the waste though.

Certainly wasn't intentionally keeping it somewhere mouldy, I'm quite disappointed in my garden shed, I had stocked up when I bought a big order and had a discount, but clearly wrong idea!

I do think it wouldn't have happened if the feed bags were a different material (I.e. The plastic ones rowen Barbary use) as I think mould couldn't transfer through that the way it does paper based bags, but accept it was my fault (wasn't suggesting it's the manufacturers fault, just wondering if I report it if they re looking at bag design materials)
 
Mold doesn't transfer - it grows in damp conditions. Different packaging would have made no difference. And storage instructions are clearly stated on the feed bags.
 
amymay said:
Mold doesn't transfer - it grows in damp conditions. Different packaging would have made no difference. And storage instructions are clearly stated on the feed bags.
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I would have thought a paper base was more porous than plastic, so packaging would make a difference?

And yes, I'm aware storage instructions were clearly stated... I did say cool, dry place in my post - I wasn't aware until recently that the shed had a problem, and wasn't functioning as needed. I'm not generally a total idiot, just got caught out and wanted to ask opinions.
 
I don't know, but I would speculate that there might well be spores lurking in feed even when kept well (same as there are in a lot of hay) - it's the damp that would cause them to develop into full on mould. Just thinking how other things go mouldy when left out. If you keep them properly dry it doesn't get a chance to get started. You couldn't guarantee that damp wouldn't get in where the plastic bags were sealed :(

Some feeds have a surprisingly short 'best before date' anyway though :) So if you bulk buy again might be worth checking you'll be able to use it in time. An expensive way to find out about your shed though, how annoying! :eek:
 
Cool and DRY doesn't mean an environment that doesn't leak. It means a dry atmosphere as well. Your shed may not leak but is obviously damp, like many outside buildings. Expensive lesson learnt.
 
Plastic or paper wouldn't make a difference, even the chaff (dengie) etc has small holes in the bags, they aren't sold as air tight.

It's your poor storage, don't get annoyed with the feed company. Just take it as a lesson learnt. Your probably better buying it as needed if you don't have adequate storage.

And would you or OH eat mouldy bread? No, I'm assuming. So don't expect the horses to eat mouldy food.

And yes penicillin is part of some mould cultures, but by no means the only component, and definitely not worth the risk IMHO.
 
milliepops said:
Some feeds have a surprisingly short 'best before date' anyway though :) So if you bulk buy again might be worth checking you'll be able to use it in time. An expensive way to find out about your shed though, how annoying! :eek:
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yeah, I think ignore bulk buy discounts in future and only buy what I can fit in feed bin... And ask boss for some overtime to pay for it all :)
 
I stockpile feed sometimes in an open fronted hay store, I buy feed in plastic where I can and where I cant I use those storage boxes with lids that go under beds and store bags flat in them, that seems to work quite well or I store whole bags in dustbins

Agree with the storage being the issue in your case, what with the feed and the saddle situation it may be a good idea to have a really good look at what else is stored in the shed just in case there are any other surprises lurking
 
travelmad said:
So a little while ago found mold on saddles which had been treated and stored for winter, wasn't happy, cursed our garden shed, treated the saddles after advice from kind folks on here...


But... Wnt to get feed today - have stockpiles of 5 bags of conditioning cubes in sme shed, and outside of them was moldy too... Have opened 2, and some of the cubes are green with mold. Tried to go through both bags to see if it was only the nuts at the top but seems like it's sporadic the whole way through. I have chucked both these bags but anyone got advise about the other 3?

OH (not known for his horse knowledge and has close to had giant feeding accidents with the horses before) reckons it might not be so bad, penicillin grows on mold, and maybe we can see if horses are ok to eat the non-mouldy cubes in the bags if we pick out mouldy ones? Any thoughts? Should I chuck them all? It's like £60 quid of feed (but if they got colic that would be more expensive!).

I'm quite cross with baileys that mould can get in through the bags, but I assume the fault is mine as it was clearly not a cool, dry space to store (that said it's a shed with no obvious leaks, relatively warm, etc). Is it worth reporting to baileys?

What would you do?
Click to expand...
Personally, I would chuck it. The loss of sixty quids worth of feed is better than the loss of hundreds in vet's bill. Do not listen to OH.
 
Plastic would make the feed sweat so would produce mould.

It is definitely your fault I'm afraid, if you contact Baileys they may offer you a small compensation as a good will gesture but they certainly don't have to.

For what is worth most feed has a 4-6 month shelf life, buts that's from date of manufacture and obviously has to go through wholesalers, then to retailers which is why it sometimes can appear short by the time you get it, but compound feeds have a much longer shelf life than straights will.

In regards to shelf life with wholesalers, those who buy from the big popular brands tend to get bags with longer shelf life as they go through the distribution system quicker due to demand. I worked for one of the major feed comps and our stock was never in our warehouse longer than a week!
 
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