Dusty hay

[AJ]

With wet spring, first cuts were put into silage or baled very mature. Second cuts very dry with virtually no rain, and bales are now dusty. Aside from wetting, which is extremely awkward with feeding 15 groups of 1 to 15 horses per corral. Anybody have simple solution? These are big square bales which further compounds problem. Did not test one bale prior to delivery, since hay is so scarce. Never had this problem in 20 years. How tolerant to dust are horses, even with feeding on the ground rather than in feeders? One horse developed cough, before I starting soaking hay. At this rate, feeding could become an all day activity.

 

[chandab]

Aside from soaking/wetting, not much will get rid of the dust. You can get rid of some of it by fluffing up the flakes, but then you are likely to be the one inhaling all that dust.

Perhaps you'll get lucky and not all will be so dusty. I know with our homegrown hay, the bales can vary depending on when it was baled; usually morning bales with the morning dew are less dusty than afternoon bales.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

To offset the dust I find in all my hay (not sure why but maybe I'm just picky about things)I pred it out when I feed it. No little piles, I shake it out so it is a fine layer across the paddock. Then they eat it slowly ,like grazing a few stems/pieces at a time. Since I started this I haven't had any issues with dust and the horses are happy to eat for longer periods of time. Also, there is no problem with the lower horses not being able to get their share. It is more like being on pasture. Works for me with my set up.

 

[SampleMM]

You are not going to like my answer but I would not use the hay. One year I had to burn over 100 bales and I thought my husband would kill me but dusty hay and horses is a recipe for disaster in my book.

 

[Sue_C.]

You are not going to like my answer but I would not use the hay. One year I had to burn over 100 bales and I thought my husband would kill me but dusty hay and horses is a recipe for disaster in my book.

DITTO...absolutely... I know of far too many good horses ruined by dusty hay. Once their breathing is compromised, it doesn't get better.

 

[Minimor]

If it is a musty/moldy dust then I would agree about not using the hay. But, if it is a dry dust as AJ describes then it is pointless to burn/dispose of the hay, because any other hay you get in this area this year will be the same.

The hay we have here this year is very good quality, but it was baled dry and there is a certain amount of dry dust in it--the grass bales are not as dusty as the alfalfa, and the reason the alfalfa gets this dry dust is the leaves are so dry that they crumble during the baling process. The drier the leaves the more they crumble, and crumbled leaves = powdered leaves = dust.

The dry dust won't affect horses the same way that the musty/moldy dust does--a horse with dust allergies or actual heaves will have problems, the others generally won't.

If you're feeding small squares it is easy to shake out the flakes as you feed them--that is what I always do with mine, and any dust that is in them will come out. Again--talking dry dust here, not the musty sort of dust that billows out like a cloud of smoke when you shake the hay out. That dust that puffs out like a cloud of smoke is not healthy and hay with that sort of dust should not be fed. When you're feed the big squares or the rounds, shaking the hay out isn't really an option--not if you've got the bales set out for the horses. Obviously if you are forking the hay out to them, then it can be shook out just like the small bales