What would you do

[My equine life]

I’m waiting on a hay delivery as my hayman is Ill and I have very little hay left. I have had a few bales from a couple different friends to keep us going however it’s not quite right. What would you feed, the musty / slightly mouldy or The stuff with sycamore seeds or the stuff with an unknown leafy tall plant that looks as if it grows in the ground or has come off a thin twigged tree. Help?!

 

[Firefly9410]

The one with the leafy stuff but pick it out first. Soaking the musty stuff will help avoid respiratory problems but will leach out nutrients so you may need to up the hard feed a bit. I do not worry about cycamore seeds in grazing because it is not something I can control but not sure I would like to deliberately feed them in hay. Then again some poisonous things are harmless when dried so perhaps you could research? If I could not get hay I would try for a combination of good clean straw preferably barley straw and low energy haylage such as the blue Horsehage and something like Dengie Molasses Free which is I think part alfalfa and part hay. If you fed a bit of all three you would hopefully avoid colic ulcers boredom excess energy and bankruptcy. Which you might get if you fed just one of those things to a horse unaccustomed to it. Straw provides long fibre and chewing time. Haylage provides calories missing in straw. Chaff provides a bit of hay which the gut is used to.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Honestly none of it sounds ideal could you not get to a feed shop and buy some hay or haylage from them for the time being?

 

[PurBee]

Definitely not sycamore seeds. Dont even risk it. Some have more toxin than others, some horses respond worse/better than others to the toxin, but its not worth the gamble.

Musty mouldy not worth the gut mycotoxicosis imo, but depends how bad it is...better than sycamore seeds if soaked in hot water or steamed

The weird leafy stuff...if thats a tall ragwort at maturity before flowering itll infect the rest of the bale with the toxin, so cant say without knowing for sure if thats useable either.

Do you have any farms nearby where you can pop by and politely ask if they would sell you a roundbale to tide you over?

 

[PurBee]

Post a pic of the unknown leady plant if you can.

 

[planete]

Haylage from the feed merchant in an emergency for me until I can source decent stuff. Expensive but cheaper than the vet.

 

[My equine life]

It’s defo not ragwort. It almost looks like a rounder beach leaf. The musty stuff was better in the middle where it was just a bit dusty. When I look really close it looks like there’s the odd spot of Mold or something but it doesn’t smell like mould. I went for a combo of damping down some of the dusty and picking the leaves out the other stuff. Does this sound ok? Im now stressing about Mycotoxins (not sure wgat it is and if they’ll get it)

 

[PurBee]

It’s defo not ragwort. It almost looks like a rounder beach leaf. The musty stuff was better in the middle where it was just a bit dusty. When I look really close it looks like there’s the odd spot of Mold or something but it doesn’t smell like mould. I went for a combo of damping down some of the dusty and picking the leaves out the other stuff. Does this sound ok? Im now stressing about Mycotoxins (not sure wgat it is and if they’ll get it)

I cant think of a large ground plant with beech like leaves....maybe its branches from a beech tree blown off in high winds thats made it way into the hay?

mycotoxicosis is from mould and fungal spores on bedding and or feeds....so thats why, especially with horses being gut sensitive, its best not to feed mouldy hay. All preserved forage has a certain level of moulds, but ideally very low levels. If they are detectable by sight and smell, like with some hay, its fair to say it contains a very high number of mould spores, and would not be suitable to feed a horse unless killed via steaming.
Cold water soaking will wash off spores from slightly musty hay and be ok to feed short term, if stuck. Very hot water is best, if theres no steamer available.

 

[My equine life]

I cant think of a large ground plant with beech like leaves....maybe its branches from a beech tree blown off in high winds thats made it way into the hay?

mycotoxicosis is from mould and fungal spores on bedding and or feeds....so thats why, especially with horses being gut sensitive, its best not to feed mouldy hay. All preserved forage has a certain level of moulds, but ideally very low levels. If they are detectable by sight and smell, like with some hay, its fair to say it contains a very high number of mould spores, and would not be suitable to feed a horse unless killed via steaming.
Cold water soaking will wash off spores from slightly musty hay and be ok to feed short term, if stuck. Very hot water is best, if theres no steamer available.

That’s interesting I didn’t know that thank you. I have now had a hay delivery as my hayman is better. Now I’m paranoid about hay being bad so I of course had a good look and on the end slices there is a bit of those spores I was talking about but not in the middle. It doesn’t have the musty smell though and it looks normal at a glance. Does have the odd oak leaf though but we had a windy end to the summer and there’s not too many so I hope that will be ok. I’m probably being over paranoid now!

 

[Firefly9410]

Very few things in life are ideal. We have to feed our horses something. So look around at what is available to you and make the best of it then stop worrying. People know deep in their heart if the best they can offer is not good enough in welfare terms so in those cases people should not have horses I think. This sound like a one off situation. Maybe try to make a better plan for emergency situation in future. A few bales of haylage maybe? It will store unopened for months.