Blister Bugs

[Marsha Cassada]

Dapper Dan was not doing well on Saturday morning when I went out. Called the vet, who told me to give him banamine and watch him. He ate nothing all day. He kept trying to urinate. No poop.

He would not eat that night but kept playing in the water.

Last night he would eat soaked timothy pellets, but not alfalfa. Today he is a little better and I got a nice pile.

Took him to the vet this morning and I thought I'd pass on what I learned. Vet put a tube down his stomach and said it seemed fine. Checked inside his mouth for foreign objects, such as a burr.

He said DD had the classic symptoms of blister bug: trying to urinate unsuccessfully and playing in water.

I had some in the garden last week and sprayed them, so I know they were passing through. I had the least-bad kind, the gray ones. I guess DD must have nibbled one while grazing.

I'm in the middle of an alfalfa bale, with no problem before, but I'll be checking the rest of it as I feed now.

Vet said two horses almost died this spring; he had them at the clinic for over a week. Another local hrose died of blister bug several years ago.

Even a piece of a blister bug can be fatal.

I am thinking my giving DD the banamine at the very beginning may have saved him from colic.

 

[cretahillsgal]

This is why I am not feeding alfalfa right now. In the past I have been able to buy it from a neighbor with confidence that it was sprayed before it was harvested to get rid of the blister bugs.

I also have been seeing them recently on the grass and trees. Knock on wood, Ive not had a horse with it yet. At least in this drought, they seem to be fewer and far between.

 

[Eagle]

OMG I have just googled the blister bug and these are what I have been finding in my barn for about a month now. I often found them floating in the horses water buckets

Should I panic??

 

[a mini dream come true]

Oh Marsha,

Hoping DD is well on the mend from this. That scares me. I know they are around here so I try to be very careful, but sometimes you just never know.

Thank you for posting this. At least we know what the signs are now. Have heard about blister bugs on the forum before, but had never heard about some of the symptoms this could cause. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

OMG I have just googled the blister bug and these are what I have been finding in my barn for about a month now. I often found them floating in the horses water buckets

Should I panic??

Do they have them in Italy??

The vet explained to me the reason they are more of a problem in baled alfalfa now. It is a new way of baling called crimping. The insect parts are so crimped into the leaves that the horse cannot discern them. Usually the horse can smell the beetle and avoid eating, but if it is crimped into the alfalfa leaf he can't do that.

The bale I'm feeding out of is from a farmer I've never used before, and it is much heavier and denser than my others. My usual hay guys have the older balers, so none of those will be crimped.

 

[Eagle]

I am so glad you caught your little one in time, google says that many horse die from eating them. I am seeing my vet tomorrow so I will ask him about the ones I have in my barn. Thanks for sharing and informing me.

 

[wildoak]

Glad your guy is okay, blister beetles are deadly. I feed New Mexico alfalfa and I've bought from the same feed store for over 20 years. They are insured and will stand behind their hay. Several people in our area bought some beautiful green alfalfa off the side of the road a few years ago, and you can guess the rest. My friend lost a stallion and a young mare, and nearly lost two of her big race mares. Both were in foal and subsequently aborted. The guy selling it got dodgy when she tracked him down, and said he "never said it was horse hay". Knowing it was full of beetles, he just packed up and moved down the road to another small town.....he was eventually run out of the area and I doubt he will come back here. Lesson though, just be very careful who you buy from, know your source when possible. She had already fed a good bit of the 50 bales she bought too, before they ran into one where the beetles had swarmed.

Jan

 

[Minimor]

Actually the hay is crimped at time of cutting--the crimping crushes the hay & allows it to dry better/faster. They've been crimping hay for years and years. Unfortunately the crimping also crushes and kills the blister beetles & so they stay in the hay and get baled with it. If the hay is cut with a swatehr or an old style mower that simply cuts without crimping/conditioning the hay, the beetles are not harmed--once the hay is cut and starts to dry they move on, so are gone before the hay is baled. Much of our hay is still cut with a swather so isn't crimped but many farmers do use the haybines that crimp as the hay is cut and runs through them--luckily blister beetles aren't a big problem in this area so we don't have to worry much about feeding alfalfa.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I talked with my local farmer today and he said all the local swathers are equiped with crimpers. They don't bother to remove them.

I gave a little of the alfalfa bale tonight to one of my horses and looked through it carefully. I'm not sure that is going to work, though--how could I possible see a PIECE of blister bug in the alfalfa leaves? The problem is hay is such a premium right now one hates to waste any. But I think I must jettison the rest of that bale. It's not worth the worry.

The farmer neighbor also told me that the gray beetles I had in my garden were not the dangerous ones. So, that means the bale of hay is the culprit.

DD had no banamine today. He is hungry and can eat, but still leaking urine. Not sure he is out of the woods yet. I let him graze on our irrigated areas today--the places we are watering to keep trees alive.

 

[REO]

Poor DD. I hope he gets better and that he's able to pee soon. Is he still playing in the water or drinking well? Is there anything the vet can do to help him pee?

Sounds like you almost lost your boy

 

[Eagle]

I know times are hard and it is also hard to get hold of good hay but I think I would get rid of the hay too. Do you have much left? Could you put an advert in a local paper and sell it?

I am praying that DD gets well soon.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

He ate grass hay last night and his soaked timothy pellets, but not the oats/boss. I offered him a carrot slice and a grape this morning--two of his favorite snacks--and he refused them. He wanted to get out into the pasture and I think roaming and browsing are best for him right now. I did give him another banamine this morning (he had none yesterday).

His plumbing appeared to be working all right, thank goodness.

My neighbor supplies alfalfa to a hay broker. This broker was sued several years ago because of blister bugs, so he is super careful now and vigilant. I feel good about the bales I got from the neighbor, since the broker took the rest of that cutting. They said there is some debate about the amount of blister bug it takes to kill a horse; some say 1 and some say 75. Of course, that is a big horse. When these bales are gone I'll have to figure out something else.

Took the remainder of that open alfalfa bale to my neighbor, who fed it to his cows. That bale was a "foreign" bale--someone gave it to me to replace hay I used while boarding her horse.

 

[minie812]

There are I believe 6 types of Blister Beetles. I will not feed fresh cut Alfalfa to my horses only processed pellets or cubes. It is not worth the risk to lose a horse.

 

[ThreeCFarm]

Oh Marsha, I'm sorry, but glad that DD seems to be doing better. I would definitely get rid of that hay...

 

[dgrminis]

The only baled alfalfa we will feed is if it is from our field and my husband himself cut it/baled it because then he knows if there are any beetles in it -- if he even suspects there is one we don't even bring any of it on our property... Very serious/dangerous. I am glad your little guy is doing better. Maybe someone can buy the hay as cattle hay (cattle can eat them).