How Do You Know If Horse Feed Is Bad?

Change in color – molds are often white, blue or green. Dust – both hay and grain products can get dusty from mold or age. Smell – spoiled grain may smell rancid. Spoiled hay will smell moldy.

Can horse feed go bad?

The molasses in sweet feeds may become spoiled, and pelleted feeds can mold. High-fat feeds will develop a rancid odor fairly rapidly in the heat and must be used up quickly. Horses have a very sensitive sense of smell. If you can smell that something is going bad, you can be sure that your horse can, too.

How long is horse feed good for?

Most manufacturers will recommend consumption of the feed within 30-60 days of manufacture if the product is stored under proper conditions.

What is bad horse feed?

Commercially manufactured horse feeds have a long history of safety. Harmful ingredients that could contaminate feed ingredients include mycotoxins and ionophores. Mycotoxins are compounds that can develop in plants from molds that grow in them; they can have harmful effects on horses.

Does horse feed go out of date?

Generally speaking, a pelleted feed stored in ideal conditions won’t begin to lose nutritional quality until it is approximately 6 months old. That’s a long time for a feed to still be good! On the other hand, textured feed tends to lose nutritional quality around 90 days from date of manufacture.

What will moldy feed do to a horse?

Moldy forage can contribute to a range of disorders in the horse. Inhaled fungal and actinomycete spores can cause primary allergic and inflammatory respiratory disease, as well as influencing the incidence, severity, and duration of episodes of infectious respiratory disease.

What if a horse eats moldy feed?

If your horse ate moldy hay, you should contact a vet right away. He may try to remove the hay with a tube or administer a laxative so the toxin will pass before it is absorbed. If the horse ate a small amount of moldy hay, he might advise you to give the horse mineral oil and watch for symptoms.

Do feeds expire?

The feed industry standard is that feed is good from 6 months of the date it is bought, since you can’t generally read the date on the tag or bag.

How long does an unopened bag of horse feed last?

A year for unprocessed whole grains. Six months for pellets (heat processed) Three months for most unopened sacs of textured feeds. A few weeks or a month for rolled oats in warm, humid weather.

How long should a bag of horse feed last?

A rule of thumb is that a 50-pound bag of feed will last an average adult horse approximately one week.

What are 3 things horses should not eat?

Here are eight foods you should never feed your horse:

• Chocolate. ©russellstreet/Flickr CC.
• Persimmons.
• Avocado.
• Lawn clippings.
• Pitted fruits.
• Bread.
• Potatoes and other nightshades.
• Yogurt or other milk products.

Should you soak horse feed?

Typically, feed is soaked to soften it and make it easier to chew. Horses with poor dentition are the primary beneficiaries of this practice. But even if your horse has perfect teeth, you can still soak feed. Soaking feed helps increase the amount of water your horse consumes.

What is the best horse feed to feed a horse?

Roughage/Forage Roughage, found in hay or grass, is the bulk of the horse’s food. Grass or alfalfa hay, or a combination of the two, are good sources of roughage. Grass hay is generally higher in fiber and dry matter than alfalfa, but alfalfa may be higher in protein, energy, vitamins and calcium.

Can you feed horses last years hay?

If the hay was of good-quality when harvested and stored in a dry place with sufficient airflow, hay is likely suitable for consumption for two to three years. Keep in mind that hay, even premium forage, loses much of its vitamin content in the first few months of storage.

Can you feed horses year old hay?

Hay will lose nutritional value the longer it is stored. However, hay can be fed the second year after it is cut as long as it is dry and free from mold. The lower the moisture content the longer it can be stored with less chance of mold and spoilage. Less than 20% moisture content is desirable.

What is the best way to store horse feed?

Feed should be stored in a container with a well fitting lid. This keeps the feed dry and helps to prevent rodents from getting to the feed. Do not store feed directly on the floor. Try to use pallets if you have insufficient bins to store all the feed in.

Will a little bit of mold hurt a horse?

That said, in most cases, the consumption of small amounts of moldy hay do not cause much problem in horses, and you only need to monitor them for signs of abdominal pain (colic), depression, diarrhea or loss of appetite over a 24 hour period.

What do you do with spoiled feeds?

Pack and seal forage as quickly as reasonably possible, and avoid extended fill situations. At feedout, discard visibly spoiled feed and the forage immediately around it.

Can horses eat slightly moldy hay?

Don’t feed moldy hay to horses. Most moldy hay problems are from mold spores, which can produce respiratory disease in horses. Many of the common mold toxins develop in the field during a delayed harvest. If you suspect a mold toxin problem, review your horse’s nutrition and health.

Can horses get botulism from hay?

Figure 1: Horses eating from round-baled hay are more susceptible to developing botulism, especially if the hay was not baled appropriately or if a dead animal was baled together with the hay. Botulism is a deadly disease caused by the toxins produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

How do horses get botulism?

Far more commonly, botulism occurs when horses eat feed or water which contains preformed toxin. Clostridia grow on substrates (food sources) which are above a pH of 4.5 and are in an anaerobic (non oxygen) environment. Here they produce toxins.