worms in water trough

[poorboys]

today we accidently drop a little hay into the water trough and 1/2hour later we went out looking at the goats, and noticed little red worms swarming the water. they were mostly attached to the hay, dark red, thin, about 1ml long. does or has anyone ever seen this, or know what kinda of worms these are, I dumped the water, but don't know if they would have harmed my goats.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

What's 1 ml?


Sometimes after we water the garden, or it rains, or we spill a lot of water in washing out buckets and dishes I will see worms everywhere. They come to the surface looking for air. In your case though I would be inclined to think they came from the hay...

 

[Pearce Pastures]

The are probably bloodworms, the larva of a fly that lays in water. You can see them in puddles after rain or in ponds near the shoreline. No biggie, just dump the water.

 

[chubbydog811]

Could be mosquito larvae. Around here they are red-ish, tiny, and swim like shrimp. If you see them, you should dump your buckets, scrub them, and refill to make sure your buckets stay clean - they seem to like "dirty/old" water better. Some years if the mosquito born illnesses are running rampant, we dump the buckets every evening for the ones that are only day time, and do the same but refill for the full time buckets. If the buckets sit for more than a couple days, you will usually see them.

 

[poorboys]

thanks for your help, and yes their gone now, I guess they were in the hay, or maybe not but just attached themselves to the hay once it was in water, problem taken care of.