I really did my homework and sought out good quality hay (or so I thought) for my girls, but now when I pull a flake off, a cloud of mold comes out. It has rained here for the last month and I doubt if there is any hay out there that didn't get rained on.
Will it hurt to feed it to them? If I try shaking some of the mold off first (away from them), would that help?
Also, if I give up and buy timothy/alfalfa pellets for them instead, how much should they get? Btw, my goats have lots of green browse to eat all day long (except when it's raining which is about half the time). One of my girls is due to kid in about 4 weeks with multiples likely (her 5th freshening). I want to make sure she gets enough of what she needs.
Thanks for your input!!
Replies
I wouldn't feed moldy hay, I almost lost my first goat to Listerrosis (I'm sure it is spelled wrong). The vet said it was caused by moldy hay. Her brain swelled and her eyes bugged out and she was really different after she got better. She couldn't walk or hold her head up, it was terrible. My vet got her over it but I never went back to him because he said, "Why are you so upset it is only a goat." She lived 12 years after this but I was very careful about the hay after that.
It all depends on what kind of mold it is. Some are more toxic than others. The textbooks say that you should never feed moldy hay to goats, but I know mine have had some from bales that we didn't know were moldy until we'd already fed some.
I couldn't swear by this, and don't remember where I learned it, but I think that pregnant does can miscarry from eating moldy hay. Anyone else know if that's true??
Thanks Juliana, that helps a lot! I haven't seen any signs of respiratory issues and there really isn't much mold on it (especially after I shake it off) and they seem to be eating it fine. The get enough of everything else so they really don't need the hay anyway, but like you said, they get bored! Thanks for replying.
Juliana Goodwin said:
I dont' know about feeding moldy hay...I can tell you this from my horse life- if a horse has decent common sense they will eat around the mold (my ponies did this when my husband accidentally fed them moldy hay). and I remember once when I was a kid a big load of our hay got moldy and we shook out the flakes to loosen the hay so that they could pick around it. Safe to feed to anyone is risky...but if you are desperate?
I feed lots of pelleted alfalfa and timothy, love it because they waste nothing. The down side is that they eat it quickly and then are bored (unlike hay when they are busy for awhile).
Mine are on pasture all day and locked up overnight with usually no food. IF they seem thin, they will get some hay overnight but I usually am having the opposite problem.
I will give 1-2 scoops of pellets (timothy, alfalfa, or lespedeza) at night, and 2x a day for the bucks who are on dry lot right now. They do get some hay for entertainment too. My scoops are maybe 1.25 cup. I have never had anyone choke eating them dry. did have a horse choke though, have to soak for them.