I found a very dead frog in horses hay should i be concerned???
I would dispose of the hay. Any dead animal trapped in the hay will decay and produce bacteria, including, potentially, the clostridium botulism bacteria which produces botulinum toxin.
Frog or toad?
As Twisting said dispose of the contaminated hay.
If it’s a frog, I would wonder how close to wetlands they were baling and look closely at the rest of the hay.
I have found a dead snake in a bale, disposed of that bale, end of story.
If I see dead rats, to me that means the hay was held improperly or to long in storage. It should be returned to the dealer.
Would you really get rid of the whole bale? I’ve found mice, snakes, shotgun shells, and golf balls in hay, but never gotten rid of the whole bale because of that. Just got rid of the small area dead animals were found in. Scratched my head about the golf balls, till we figured out that particular hay was coming off of a field across the road from the golf course (but man, those must have been pretty bad golfers to get the balls that far off the course).
It is fine, unless it is not but it is incredibly unlikely. It likely happens way more than you ever know. I use bale nets and run across something in there a few times a year. Normal. Anyone who gets worked up about it has never been around a hay baler. There is absolutely no way the farmer has any idea a small animal is in there.
If it is a fawn, yeah, they should have known and tossed the surrounding hay immediately. A frog, no.
All manner of interesting stuff ends up in baled hay. A dead critter would mean I’d at least dispose of the sections with the body and if I were flush with hay likely junk the whole bale (or maybe set it aside and use it to cover spring grass planted in random areas).
G.
Hold a memorial service for the Frog.
It isn’t easy being green
I’ve found all manner of dead critters in hay…mice, frogs, snakes, etc…I probably go ahead and toss the immediately surrounding hay, but definitely not the entire bale.
One time, we were putting up hay and had a slightly loose bale that we tossed down to give to the horses that night, we found 3 alive baby bunnies in it! Lucky little guys to have ended up in a loose bale. We sent the to a wild life rescue and all was well.
Twisting (second post) is right about the potential for botulism. A cautionary tale.
Here’s an article on botulism in horses:
http://extension.vetmed.ufl.edu/files/2011/10/Botulism.pdf
Best to have knowledge in order to draw your own concusions as to disposing of hay that contains a dead animal.
Yes, to be clear I would toss the hay directly around the dead thing but I wouldn’t toss the bale and i wouldn’t freak out if i found the dead thing after the fact. Those things can be hard to spot. Botulism is a possibility but it is not likely at all.
isn’t the next plague after frogs lice?
Which costs more, a bale of hay or a vet bill?
When in doubt, throw it out.
Any time I have questionable hay, I use it for chicken bedding. Nothing gets wasted around here.
RIP Kermit
We had a hilarious/horrific thread about what people found in hay a while back - please, continue!
Personally, I’ve never found anything worth reporting, fortunately.
What does a Romulan frog use for camouflage?
A croaking device?
Years ago at a barn I worked for, I found mummified, flat dead possum in a horse’s feed bunk after the horse ate all the hay from around it. Not much to do about it after the fact!
