It’s been a while since I bought whole flax seed. The bag I just purchased has a good amount of short straw-like stems and small round seed-like things (some black, some almost white). Would you return this bag or is it normal for a 50 lb bag from the feed store to have some detritus in it? I can’t remember, though I feel like the bags I bought in the past were pretty pure.
Flax has gotten way more expensive and harder to source since 2019.
I wouldn’t be that worried about the bits of flax straw but I would want to know what the seeds were. Are they mouse poop? That would be a hard no.
Personally, I would not return that. I have gotten worse amounts of debris and still fed it without issue.
Others are probably more discriminating than me. But like Scribbler said, flax has gotten tough to source. I only feed 1/2 cup a day, so a few stems and husks are not a concern to me. “Other” seeds are only slightly concerning to me in the sense that I hope they aren’t anything weird or toxic, but again, I view it as the horses aren’t getting that many in their diet.
I worry a lot more about insects, rodents, and molds.
3 Likes
Thank you guys! I’m confident none of it is rodent poop. As I scrutinized it more though I did see a few tiny insects crawling on top of the flax and up the inside of the bag.
I bought it to possibly help my allergy horse and balance out the omega 3/6 for the one who eats rice bran. But I think I’m actually taking him off the rice bran so maybe I’ll skip the flax… It was $55 for a bag, although that should last a long time.
