Need Advise On Types Of Hay

[stano40]

Thanks to all those great links on silage and hayage. I've learned more about hay with those links and wikipedia.

Emmett's Dairy (Becky), I agree now on the poor quality of hay I bought. I have no intention of feeding this hay to my goats. We spent today digging out some pallets from the snow and lined them up in front of the bad hay so the goats can't get at it.

Putting that hay up on Craiglist as Mulch hay if anybody wants it.

Does anyone think giving my goats Probios treatment would help get their gut flora in shape from any effects of picking at that bad hay.

They have been getting good horse hay and their grain at night. I'll keep an eye on them for any problems in the near future.

bob

 

[julieq]

We feed vitamin/mineral supplements with probiotics to our goats and horses and really feel it helps to keep our livestock healthy. (Love probiotics for us two legged animal care givers also!)

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Probios would not hurt. But moreover what I would do is give them all a shot of Vitamin B complex. Cuz what happens with moldy feed is it inhibits thiamine. B1. They need that. Important.

Watch for funny behavoir..not eating properly, staggering, staring...but I would give them all a shot tommorrow for sure. Its avail at most feed stores and I know TSC has it for sure. And its cheap for alot...so I would get it before this storm hits us...I heard 2 feet of snow! So I dont think your gonna wanna run out in it for an emergency tues or wed.

Good luck and hope all fairs well in the storm!

 

[julieq]

Probios would not hurt. But moreover what I would do is give them all a shot of Vitamin B complex. Cuz what happens with moldy feed is it inhibits thiamine. B1. They need that. Important.

Watch for funny behavoir..not eating properly, staggering, staring...but I would give them all a shot tommorrow for sure. Its avail at most feed stores and I know TSC has it for sure. And its cheap for alot...so I would get it before this storm hits us...I heard 2 feet of snow! So I dont think your gonna wanna run out in it for an emergency tues or wed.

Good luck and hope all fairs well in the storm!

Great advice. We keep B injectibles on hand, but we give them orally.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Silage and haylage (which is baled at a high moisture content, not dry like dry hay) can be fed safely to animals if the person feeding does it properly and knows what to look for. It needs to be fed quickly, and not exposed to air for longer than a few days. If you're going to feed a bale of haylage to goats, it needs to be eaten in just a couple days. When feeding silage, the area exposed to air needs to be thrown away (if it's been exposed to air longer than a day or so) and only the fresh stuff should be fed. Once it contacts air, then aerobic bacteria take over and start causing mold which can cause listeriosis.

 

[Emmetts Dairy]

Silage and haylage (which is baled at a high moisture content, not dry like dry hay) can be fed safely to animals if the person feeding does it properly and knows what to look for. It needs to be fed quickly, and not exposed to air for longer than a few days. If you're going to feed a bale of haylage to goats, it needs to be eaten in just a couple days. When feeding silage, the area exposed to air needs to be thrown away (if it's been exposed to air longer than a day or so) and only the fresh stuff should be fed. Once it contacts air, then aerobic bacteria take over and start causing mold which can cause listeriosis.

Agreed but I dont think he bought silage...

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Silage and haylage (which is baled at a high moisture content, not dry like dry hay) can be fed safely to animals if the person feeding does it properly and knows what to look for. It needs to be fed quickly, and not exposed to air for longer than a few days. If you're going to feed a bale of haylage to goats, it needs to be eaten in just a couple days. When feeding silage, the area exposed to air needs to be thrown away (if it's been exposed to air longer than a day or so) and only the fresh stuff should be fed. Once it contacts air, then aerobic bacteria take over and start causing mold which can cause listeriosis.

Agreed but I dont think he bought silage...

Haylage is essentially the same thing as silage, but made with hay instead of corn. Same concept, fermented the same way, etc.

 

[stano40]

Silage and haylage (which is baled at a high moisture content, not dry like dry hay) can be fed safely to animals if the person feeding does it properly and knows what to look for. It needs to be fed quickly, and not exposed to air for longer than a few days. If you're going to feed a bale of haylage to goats, it needs to be eaten in just a couple days. When feeding silage, the area exposed to air needs to be thrown away (if it's been exposed to air longer than a day or so) and only the fresh stuff should be fed. Once it contacts air, then aerobic bacteria take over and start causing mold which can cause listeriosis.

Agreed but I dont think he bought silage...

Haylage is essentially the same thing as silage, but made with hay instead of corn. Same concept, fermented the same way, etc.

What I bought was supposed to be wrapped bales of hay suitable for ruminants.

I am assuming that the way it was wrapped, most likely still somewhat wet, and stored outside in the snow it began to ferment and freeze.

So, what I bought at the time I picked them up was fermented hay suitable only for cattle.

bob

 

[patandchickens]

I am assuming that the way it was wrapped, most likely still somewhat wet, and stored outside in the snow it began to ferment and freeze.

Yes, haylage is SUPPOSED to be fermenting and wet (and can freeze to produce icy areas).

If goats shouldn't get haylage, then don't feed it to them; but it is not clear to me this has anything at all do do with 'bad hay' 'moldy hay' as a lot of posters are still saying.

Pat

 

[stano40]

It goes back to my original post of buying 2 round bales of hay and opening them up to a strange odor, finding the bales frozen and seeing frozen white patch's on the hay which I thought was moldy hay.

I don't know if the hay was wrapped to produce haylage. All I was told from the farm that I bought the bales from was the hay was not horse quality and was good for ruminants.

If I knew about the type of hay I was really buying I would not have bought those bales.

Reading all these posts here has increased my knowledge of hay and gave me the type of questions I should be asking about the hay I'm buying.

A question for Emmetts Dairy - Do you produce goats milk?

bob