3rd try with different hay

[zoey829]

I bought a few bales of hay 2 wks ago the horses didnt touch it. So I went to another farm bought hay. Didnt even look at it. We went to our original guy from last yr that went over to square bales. We Bought 2. We gave it to them last night. They didnt touch it! What gives??? This hay is given to most of the horses in th area. We do have some grass but not enough. They are given grain twice a day. But I jsut dont know why they arent eating any hay! I told them thier are horses starving you should be greatful!! They didnt care

 

[zoey829]

We dont have much pasture though. Even when they are st alled they areent eating the hay. At this point I cant do anything. I was just wondering if thier is an additive I can add to the hay to make them eat it.

 

[Carolyn R]

Did you thoroughly check their mouths for sores?

 

[Ellen]

We have had that problem in the past. Everyone here gets their teeth floated every 1-3 years, depending. But, if I do get one or 2 refusing, I do just what Mary Lou check for sores. Sometimes before you can get the vet out, soaked hay stretcher, alfalfa or beat pulp will help. Just whatever your horses are used to along those lines.

 

[zoey829]

I will check. But all of them having soars?? We just got a new horse Sat and he isnt eating either! We do have a dentist that comes every yr. and he checked thier mouths. This was about 8 months ago. But I will still check

We have had that problem in the past. Everyone here gets their teeth floated every 1-3 years, depending. But, if I do get one or 2 refusing, I do just what Mary Lou check for sores. Sometimes before you can get the vet out, soaked hay stretcher, alfalfa or beat pulp will help. Just whatever your horses are used to along those lines.

 

[georgiegirl]

I bought a few bales of hay 2 wks ago the horses didnt touch it. So I went to another farm bought hay. Didnt even look at it. We went to our original guy from last yr that went over to square bales. We Bought 2. We gave it to them last night. They didnt touch it! What gives??? This hay is given to most of the horses in th area. We do have some grass but not enough. They are given grain twice a day. But I jsut dont know why they arent eating any hay! I told them thier are horses starving you should be greatful!! They didnt care

I have the same problem here. Mine are very picky about their hay.

I buy hay off of fields next door to us. The people have several different fields all with the same type of grass. One field my horses wont eat the hay off of, and their other field, they will. The grass is basically the same. It is very clean and green. My big horses thrived on this same hay.

One of my horses wont eat any of that hay so I go down the road about 10 miles and buy hay off of those fields for him. Sometimes he goes on strike on that field so I change things up again.

They are not spoiled or anything

If one doesnt like it, I pick the hay up and move it to the next one to see if it will eat. Sometimes they will, and other times they wont.

Horses will go on strike, so to speak, in the spring. They want the green grass that is starting to come up. I have to remind myself every spring that the grass is starting to come up. That being the reason for being on strike.

Other problems you might check in to are - cats spraying on the hay or dogs peeing on the hay, Mine wont eat soiled hay.

 

[zoey829]

Hey what ar eyou doing with my horse???? Or do I have your horses? What gives???? THey are so spoiled! They ahve to eat this. It is beautiful! I am running out of options!!!

 

[Ellen]

Zoey,

No, not all of them. The odds would be crazy. If it was 1 or 2, I would say a good possibility, especially since yours are checked yearly.

My Little ones are super picky. Now my Arab, one late night I went out to feed and grabbed a bale of straw? And began to throw it. Don't ask, LOL! I fed it to the whole herd. The others snorted, pee'd on it and the Arab ate it all.

Minis and ponies are picky. But depending on your climate I would be concerned as motility slows down it the winter. Maybe your choice of fiber may be served wet, to see if it helps.

 

[Minimor]

Is this straight grass hay? What kind of grass? Is it leafy, or quite stemmy? Is it nice & green, or very dry & almost brown? Any dust?

I wouldn't go by "most of the horses in the area are eating this"--right here in my neighborhood I can name several horse owners who are feeding their horses terrible hay--Some of the hay I haul away to the dump is in better shape than what some of them are feeding. These are big horses that these people own--and I suppose they get absolutely nothing else (not even any grain) so they have to eat or totally starve. I've gone to look at hay and turned it down because it was moldy--very moldy, not just a little musty--and yet the guys were selling that same hay to umpteen other horse people.

I've got some fine grass hay here that the horses absolutely don't like. They will pick out the bit of alfalfa that is in the hay and then leave the rest--they figure that it makes great bedding! I had some brome hay earlier that one horse absolutely refused to eat. Another liked the stuff, and some of the others ate it only when they had to--they wanted some alfalfa mix instead. It's rare for us to have hay that no one will eat, but definitely some of the horses are more fussy than others.

I'm not sure how many horses you have? If it's just a few then it may not be surprising if they "all" refuse certain hay--even several different batches from different suppliers if it is all a similar type of hay. If you've got quite a herd then I woud expect some of them would eat any given kind of hay--even if it's quite poor and they don't eat much of it, I'd expect some of them would pick through it.

 

[georgiegirl]

Is this straight grass hay? What kind of grass? Is it leafy, or quite stemmy? Is it nice & green, or very dry & almost brown? Any dust?
I wouldn't go by "most of the horses in the area are eating this"--right here in my neighborhood I can name several horse owners who are feeding their horses terrible hay--Some of the hay I haul away to the dump is in better shape than what some of them are feeding. These are big horses that these people own--and I suppose they get absolutely nothing else (not even any grain) so they have to eat or totally starve. I've gone to look at hay and turned it down because it was moldy--very moldy, not just a little musty--and yet the guys were selling that same hay to umpteen other horse people.

I've got some fine grass hay here that the horses absolutely don't like. They will pick out the bit of alfalfa that is in the hay and then leave the rest--they figure that it makes great bedding! I had some brome hay earlier that one horse absolutely refused to eat. Another liked the stuff, and some of the others ate it only when they had to--they wanted some alfalfa mix instead. It's rare for us to have hay that no one will eat, but definitely some of the horses are more fussy than others.

I'm not sure how many horses you have? If it's just a few then it may not be surprising if they "all" refuse certain hay--even several different batches from different suppliers if it is all a similar type of hay. If you've got quite a herd then I woud expect some of them would eat any given kind of hay--even if it's quite poor and they don't eat much of it, I'd expect some of them would pick through it.

As far as my hay is concerned. It is very clean, high quality, grass hay. I have purchased from the same supplier for a number of years. My horses have always thrived on it. In the probaly 12 years or so that I have gotten hay from them I might have had one moldy bale. My little ones still refuse to eat, at times. I think the whole thing is the fact that they hope spring comes very soon so they will have their own green grass. My big horses have done that for a long time.

Ruling out every thing else I would think they just want a change in scenery.

 

[Margaret]

Zoey, I can identify with your concern... Years ago I ended up going to 4 different hay suppliers to test buy my winter supply. Basically I was getting a preliminary test batch to see which one they liked the best..

Some of these hay suppliers will sell the previous years stored supply and due to that, the horses do not like it.

But I have found that the later in a season one waits to purchase their winter hay, the worse the selection. ( or longer and courser the stem size.)

I try to buy mine while the hay is between short and medium in stem length. And depending on where you are, that harvest time will vary from state to state.

With us in Arizona is somewhere around October, and even at that we do a preliminary test batch to make sure the horses like it.

Hope this helps.

 

[shorthorsemom]

My guys used to turn off and on with my hay that according to my distributer all the local horse people were feeding. Then my friend suggested it might be too course in texture for minis, seemed fine to me, but I haven't been into minis as long as her so I made a change anyway. I started feeding nothing but fine grass hay and sometimes have to shop around for it. Ever since I changed to the fine grass they don't leave a whisp of hay anywhere, rack or ground. Its expensive but no waste. I also feed a 30% supplement and some ground flax. Might start feeding some beetpulp too, have one that I would like to see some additional weight on, this has been a harsh winter so far in SE Pa. Too much rain and wind and snow.

 

[zoey829]

Here is a pic

 

[zoey829]

They are not thin, They are huge. To the point where everyone who comes over says they are so fat they think they are going to pop!!

Maybe I should soak the hay?? I tried it today and it froze up outside!!! ANd they were in the big field ignoring me!!!! Will they still eat it i it is frozen??

Looks like a grass or Timothy hay (1st and only cut here).. Looks green in color which is good.. Does it smell nice? If so, my horses would eat that..
Are your horses feeling thin? in the rib area?

 

[Marty]

Zoey do this:

Break open a couple of pads of hay and pull them apart, then stick your nose right down inside it. Make love with your hay! Feel it up real good and see if anything is sticking in your bare hands, like pokeing you like if its feeling coarse, too stemmy, or like its a bunch of little sticks and not soft. Soft is the key word here. Get your nose in there good. If you come up and you still can breathe easily and it smells so good you want to eat it yourself, no smoke, no mold, no dust, then its probably safe to say its not the hay.

Zoey, at this time of year your horses HAVE to have hay. It is very possible that you need to get the vet out to do teeth right away. I just went through this with some horses that I had their teeth done in spring, and I'll be a son of a gun it was a lousy job by that vet and I couldn't imagine they having a tooth problem so soon. I had to get them re-done by another vet who found all kinds of points left inside there causing sores on the insides of the mouth. Boy was I ever ticked off about this! It is very possible that the vet that did your horse's teeth did a lousy job too so I would call the best of the best in your area to come do them. Dang that makes me mad but I have a feeling it is going to solve the problem.

Now here's a little tippy for you: If your vet finds that your horse's mouths are sore and have any kinds of lesions, give them a hit of PANACUR. Panacur has a bunch of healing properties in it and will help heal sores in the mouth.

Best wishes Zoey.

 

[zoey829]

OK I just got back in from doing what Marty told me. I was making love to my hat, boy I am beat

. Anyway, it isnt coarse but it is dusty!!!! What should I do now? Not a lot but a hint of dust. I soaked it eariler but they didnt even see the hay. They are too busy in th ebif field. Should I soak thier hay that goes in thier racks at night??

 

[Minimor]

My question would be--what kind of dust is it? If it is just a dry dust, and not very much of it, I wouldn't bother to soak it this time of year--since it sounds like you've got cold weather & below freezing temperatures too. If the hay is good & just has a bit of dry dust, that shouldn't be putting them off of eating it. If it's so poor/dusty that they don't want to eat it as it is, then soaking it likely isn't going to make it any more attractive to them--and once it freezes, they will want it even less.

What I would do is shake the flakes out when I feed it--that will let what little bit of dust there is come out of the hay.

If the dust is a mold dust--or a musty sort of dust--then I simply wouldn't feed it. Was there any hint of a moldy/musty smell to the dust, or did it just smell like, well,....dust? Look very, very closely at the hay--can you see any little fluffy looking white stuff on the hay stems/leaves? If there is just a little bit of mold it won't be obvious--serious mold will make the hay look grey/white/black or even yellow in places, depending on what kind of mold there is--but if it's just a little musty you have to look close to see the mold spores. They look like fluffy, tiny mushroom shapes lining the hay stalks and leaves--there is the main base and then a tiny little T cap at the end. If you can't see any of those then it's probably "just dust".

It sounds like your horses are in good shape, and must be eating well on something. If they have been turning down their hay this way for awhile now (can't remember when you first mentioned they wouldn't eat your new hay?) and not getting enough to eat otherwise they should be starting to lose weight. They sound like horses that just aren't all that hungry, and aren't too keen on eating hay they aren't thrilled with.

 

[zoey829]

No one looks thin. I even get opinions from other horse peopel I trust.

I comb the hay for any mold. My husband even looked it over. I truely think it is just dusty. Shaking it out is a good idea. I tried to soal it and now yes it is like frozen hay cubes! But I did notice that the hay is going down a a small bit. So some are slowly starting to eat it.

They do get grain and we do have some grass. I guess that is good enough for them.

But I will try shaking it out real good.

 

[HGFarm]

Oh trust me, her horses are NOT thin, or even close, LOL

How much pasture time are they getting? And with grain also twice a day? Perhaps they are full and it's just not that appealing to them?? If they are on pasture from morning til night, they just may be getting too much and just dont want the hay.

I would limit them to half a day of pasture, like in the a.m., and then see if they eat their hay at night?

 

[Marty]

Zoey, just like Minimor says....if its just a bit of dust, shake out each pad before serving it and it should be fine. If it stinks......when you are loving it up, then its no go. Someone sold you probably old hay from a couple years ago. blag! Then its not lovable