Hay is a very difficult
thing to purchase and know exactly what you are getting. The risk of feeding
suspect hay to a horse is not worth trying to save a few dollars on the
hay. Here are a few things to look for when trying to determine if your
hay is bad:
Visible signs of mold
-- there should be absolutely NO mold.
Musty smell -- it should be sweet-smelling.
Flakes sticking together - almost matted -- flakes should fall apart.
Dusty appearance or mold spores falling out of the hay when you separate
flakes - there shouldn't be any mold and minimal dust in the bales.
Your hay has two signs that tell you it might be bad -- flakes sticking
together and a dusty appearance. Also check the stems of the hay on the
ends of the bales very closely. The stems or stalks of the hay "wick"
the moisture out of the air and up into the center of the bale. If the
bales had a high moisture content to start with or got wet, you have a
much higher chance of ruining the hay.
ANY mold or mildew on horse hay is not acceptable. A lot of times the
hay will look good on the outside but if you break it apart it will look
dusty and have a musty smell -- this is bad hay. There is always a chance
that the hay came from a very dusty field, but this is not usually the
case.
Different types of grass are more prone to spoilage than others and wet
climates make it harder to keep hay too. Salting hay will help absorb
the moisture of wet hay, but if your hay is already showing signs like
this it's too late.
If you suspect you hay has any mold or mildew on it after thoroughly checking
it, do not feed it.
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