This is the fifth barn I’ve boarding at in my life with horses, and the hay is frequently changing and often some of the bales are moldy, and most, extremely dusty. Sometimes I can see the mold, other times it just smells very strong of mold. I was told by a worker that it’s fine. They’ll eat it. I spent a lot of money on my horse and am concerned for health reasons.
Not normal. Not ok. Go to another barn and ask to see their hay.
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I would be concerned too if I was boarding at a barn that was feeding moldy and dusty hay. That seems like a good reason to leave a barn.
It is not uncommon for a barn to get their hay from various places during the season so the fact that the hay is not all the same all the time is not something that is a red flag, but mold and lots of dust is.
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I send hay with mold back to the supplier. It’s totally not acceptable. They’ll then sell it for cattle feed. Evidently, cows don’t have a problem. I’d tell them no. Do not feed my horse moldy hay. I’d look for another barn too.
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NO •
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put your energy in finding another barn • once located and arranged …
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give the require (by boarding contract) notice • Move immediately (paying for the inbetween time) … a month’s board $ is NOT worth the risk …
Enjoy your new safe barn !
Btw … that worker ‘it’s fine’ would not pay for your vet bill •
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Move. My horse was at a training barn getting started last year and I wish I was told BEFORE she had to have colic surgery they were feeding moldy hay. SMH.
I will say that sometimes hay can be dusty and just fine. Most of the second cut was like that here last year as we had a very dry summer. it smells good and fresh. If it smells moldy, DO NOT FEED. basic horse care rule…
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I’d start looking for another barn and move as soon as possible. Maybe buy a good bale from the feed store to get you through until the move.
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I’d move ASAP. Extremely dusty hay would make me worry about my horse getting heaves. And moldy hay leading to colic- for me that would be nightmare fuel.
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I’m not saying it is normal or OK. However, depending on your location, this past year was horrible for quality hay making in the northeast. Ask any farmer. So much rain, so much.
With that said, really dusty hay can be rinsed but no fix for moldy hay, must be tossed out. My bigger(?) concern would be that someone said it was OK to feed moldy hay. Definitely not.
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FWIW, I’ve had a boarder tell me (not a BO, also a boarder) that the barn had fed her horse moldy hay.
This barn bales their own hay, which I assist with. In 16 years of boarding there, we had NEVER fed moldy hay. If the hay wasn’t good, it got sent out for cows. I told her it was really unlikely that her bale was moldy, but possible!, and informed her that if she was concerned she was certainly free to bring it up to the BO as I was not a barn employee.
She ultimately left because her foundered horse was “being lamed by the brick pavers”, and didn’t like the green tractor (if I’m lying I’m dying). So excuse me for a minute if I’m a little skeptical of the scenario, having BTDT with someone who hadn’t a clue what they were on about.
OP, can you ask the BO if they’ve had they hay analyzed? Most horses will NOT eat moldy hay, they are not stupid. Can you take some pictures of the mold you can visibly see? Is it every bale, or every once in awhile?
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2018 was obscenely bad for hay. Just about everyone I know is dealing with discovering more than their fair share of moldy/dusty hay, and most suppliers/farmstores/farmers were sold out of anything “edible” months ago. Its dire straights for many horse owners.
HOWEVER , its no excuse for FEEDING moldy, dusty hay. In an extreme situation (EXTREME) you can steam/rinse hay that has dust (discarding the worst/dustiest first, steaming what is cleanest) but is otherwise clean smelling and free of visible mold, and feed that for a SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, ON AN EMERGENCY BASIS. But it is NOT good long term.
I had such a hard time sourcing dry, storable hay in 2018 that I ended up buying 100% more hay than I needed - and pulled my hair out down to the roots trying to store it - knowing I was going to be contributing quite a bit to the compost pile this year. And I did. I have thrown out over 50% of the hay I bought. Thats a huge sum of $$ for me and incredibly painful, but I had no choice.
Bad hay happens to good barns - that’s life. It can be that an otherwise ok batch of hay has the odd moldy flakes that sneak through unnoticed - that’s unfortunate, but it happens to the best of us, and in a year like we’ve had, more common than normal.
BUT, if an entire hay supply is compromised, good barns find a way to source SAFE forage in bad situations.
Might be $20 per bale hay-in-a-bag, might be hay cubes, beet pulp, whatever clean, healthy long stemmed forage they have to source to get by (and pass increases in costs on to boarders unfortunately, life happens!) but good boarding barns will NEVER consciously feed moldy hay and say its ok!
Feeding visibly moldy hay to horses is never acceptable. Never.
If you are seeing visibly moldy hay given to horses, and staff is saying its OK, then MOVE!
Gosh I feel like ZuZu with all the caps (no offense ZuZu! Didn’t mean to steal your style) but hay is a mega soap box for me. SO MANY health issues are a result of bad hay, SO much suffering thats SO avoidable – though dealing with expensive, hard to source hay in a bad hay year is excruciating, I can’t overstate that enough, nobody likes having to feed bad hay, or feeling like they have no options.
Moldy hay even made it past ME a few times this year, and everything my herd eats passes through my hands and under my nose… and I felt criminal.
Bad hay years I swear age us by 10 years.
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Just stopping in to add my ‘no, it’s not normal’ to the bunch. Moldy hay gets sent back as others have mentioned.
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100% completely unacceptable. Your horse’s lungs are at risk.
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No, it’s not normal.
Even on this side of the pond we had a crap year for hay and it was very dry. Therefore some of the hay we’ve been feeding has been dusty, but not moldy. Most horses have had no issues, and I water the hay for my horse with allergies. The hay is dry, but the quality is still ok, and there is no mold. I’ll work with some dust, but mold is a no.
I would take a good look at the hay yourself but if it is in fact dusty and mouldy I would not allow my horse to eat it. if the hay is a concern you may considering talking to the barn manager if it’s possible to temporarily source your own hay do you otherwise consider this a good boarding situation. It’s not an optical mall solution but it’s doable. I know when I run out of my alfalfa/Timothy next month I may end buying it from the tax store for a high premium but the quality is good.
I rode at a barn where questionable hay was fed a fair amount. If there was visible mold or it smelled like mold they threw it out, but there was still quite a bit of sour smelling or musty hay fed. Even heard the BO’s daughter tell a new worker that “this isn’t really good, but you can give it to horses A, B, or C because they’ll eat it.” My horse was in that list. People put up with that barn’s issues because it was the only place in 100 miles for English jumping lessons.
Current barn has hay that is a bit dusty, but not musty or moldy. As I’m only spending $70 a month for hay (billed separately from board here) and my horse has an iron clad digestive tract I’m not too concerned.
Have you talked to the actual BO? I would be concerned by a worker saying moldy hay is good. Even my hoover of a mare won’t touch mold. It’s possible that the BO doesn’t know that worker hasn’t been tossing the bad stuff.
I would not board at a place where Im told moldy hay is OK "they’ll eat it. no they wont unless they’re starving. Aside from the obvious health issues, moldy hay can be extremely combustible -so if they are storing moldy hay in a hay loft in your horses barn, I’d be extremely concerned about spontaneous combustion = barn fire.
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No, while bad bales happen & are part of life, the response should never be they will be fine. That’s plain old stupid. And I’ve never used a hay farmer or distributor that wouldn’t rectify the problem.
Ignorant barn staff and barn managers that employee ignorance will cost your wallet in a sad way.
Move today or start buying your own hay and make sure they give it to your horse! Moldy hay can kill a horse.
Not OK.
Buy your own hay from a commercial supplier (Standlee Hay is top notch and also unfortunately super expensive). Not worth your horse colicking or developing a chronic cough from exposure to crappy hay.
