Dusty hay?

[taylorelaine]

For the past few weeks, we’ve been getting hay from one supplier, and the hay has been great—my horses love it, and it always looks like good quality. However, the recent batch this week was a little different. The hay was dusty, and when I separated the flakes, there was a cloud of dust. When I picked up the hay from their stall, there was a layer of grey powder on top of the shavings.

It doesn’t smell off or look bad—it’s just dusty. My horses have been eating it, but is that okay? I need to get more hay dropped off tomorrow, and I’m just worried about getting more dusty bales, especially since the other hay suppliers aren’t ideal. One supplier’s hay my horses won’t eat, and the other offers compressed bales that are expensive, don’t last as long, and are also dusty—but more of a green kind of dusty, not grey like the ones I have now.

Is it normal to get some dusty bales? And is it okay to feed them to my horses?

[Simkie]

“Dusty” that hangs in the air like you’re describing is MOLDY.

No, it’s not great. It’s not always a hard stop, but at the very least, can you toss these flakes in a muck bucket and soak them down before feeding?

Tell your supplier that what he’s brought is moldy and you want hay that’s not moldy. Can you arrange any sort of storage so you’re buying more than a week’s worth of hay at time? Buying a week at a time leaves you so few options.

[Bogey2]

Moldy! Don’t feed unless you can pick out the obvious and wet the rest down. Mold and dust can cause respiratory problems

[luvmyhackney]

Moldy. Toss the hay, stop feeding it.

[islgrl]

I’m going to be the controversial person on this thread. I don’t think the dust is always mold. We get dusty bales now and then, I absolutely know what a moldy bale smells and looks like. These aren’t really moldy. We shake them out before feeding and they are fine. Odds are legit that these bales have mold but they may not… Hay is expensive, I’d want to be sure before I tossed it…

[Marla_000]

I believe OP is in Fl. As am I, and we have to limit how long we store hay due to humidity and sometimes mold.
Some of my bales have been dry and dusty lately also. But it’s not mold. The condition of hay we get here changes weekly but it’s usually pretty good. Should be for $25. For small squares.

[NaturallyHappy]

@Marla_000

Should be for $25. For small squares.

WOW!