Re: Round Bales, Botulism, Increased Colic Risk?

Eileen Morgan wrote:
OK, so on my eventing list a couple folks feed round bales, but several raised concerns about increased botulism risk, excessive hay waste, and increased colic risk.

Comments? Data? Anecdotes?

Saving money on hay ceases to be a good idea when it ends in colic.

Eileen Morgan
The Mare's Nest (PA)
http://www.themaresnest.com

Botulism can and does happen , but it is rare, and it can happen even using small square bales if a rodent or snake gets baled up by accident.
Most people breaking flakes off of a small bale will inspect them and remove the offending flake. Mold occurs in round bales that are straight alfalfa more frequently than it does in grass bales. Avoid getting round bales that contain a lot of alfalfa and make sure the farmer who bales it knows that you need grass hay that was baled dry. We go through around 150 5x5 rounds per winter here and 2000 small squares during the summer. We've had anywhere from a high of 35 head but have the herd down to 19 head currently. If your horses have any pecking order issues put two bales out at once and rig a cover system of some sort to keep the rain off of them. They make expensive round bale feeders that keep the bales off of the ground with a roof overhead, but the 2000 dollar price tag they had on them at the expo sent me packing. I have enough horses eating them that they aren't out long enough to spoil anyway. I have two galvanized bale rings designed for horses that work well, but have seen horses get stuck in the rings at other peoples houses.. knock wood, not here so far..In one case they had to unbolt the ring to get the horse that had cast himself with his legs through it out. In cold weather you can just set the bales out and not worry as the mold wont form when it is below 45 degrees or so. If you want to avoid hay waste of any kind set a round bale up in your barn and unspool enough hay into a wheel barrow at feeding time. You use a hay or manure fork to unwrap it a layer at a time from a bale that is sitting on its flat side. I usually set the bales outside the pens and just unroll enough to feed them and fork it to them. This method also lets me examine the hay as I feed it to them.
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Round Bales, Botulism, Increased Colic Risk?
    ... Saving money on hay ceases to be a good idea when it ends in colic. ... One bale lasted a long time and there was a lot of waste. ... This was primarily due to the fact that she still had good grass late in the summer so the horses ate the grass first, then picked at the hay second. ... They use the same sized round bales, one per paddock where there are varying numbers of horses. ...
    (rec.equestrian)
  • Re: Dog rips hay bales apart
    ... know about horses, but I imagine they can get sick from it as well. ... I found the dog was fine around his horses ... I have quite a few horses to feed, and feed 8 to 11 hay bales ...
    (misc.rural)
  • Re: Round Bales, Botulism, Increased Colic Risk?
    ... My thoughts are that the biggest problem you have with your current feeding system is an excessive hay waste problem, and this will only get worse if you go with round bales. ... Surrounding this is a manger, so the horses that pull a mouthful and then stand there chewing have the loose leaves fall into the manger instead of to the ground. ...
    (rec.equestrian)
  • Re: getting thrown out of barns
    ... for them - and a board bill of $750.00 without an indoor- nope. ... Hay is expensive anywhere now, so the horses average 5 bales a month ...
    (rec.equestrian)
  • Re: Round Bales, Botulism, Increased Colic Risk?
    ... feeding system is an excessive hay waste problem, ... to buy a bunch of stuff to contain/cover the round bales. ... fall into the manger instead of to the ground. ...
    (rec.equestrian)