found mold in feed

[mini me]

Hi, I read and learn alot from everyone on here. I need some answers

to a problem. We were out pulling feed for are horses and one of my

daughters found mold. The problem is we had feed two of are ponys

some of the feed. We ran to take it away ,but they ate some feed before

we got I don't know if that feed had any mold in it. Didn't find any in there

dishes. I opened up two more bags they had some mold too. Only

on the spot where the bag looked like it had been wet. I just feed

everybody hay. I hope they didn't get an of the mold last night.

Does anyone know what I can look for in a reaction if the horses

did by chance get any mold? I am going to the feed store to get

fresh feed for them for to night. I am also going to call a friend that

breeds horses and my vet. Any advice would be greatly apprecated(sp?).

I will also ask the feed store people.

Thank you

mini me

 

[lilhorseladie]

Glad you caught that. I can't help you with mold, but I bought some feed on sale...three bags of it and dumped it all in my feed bin. I noticed on my scoop these very minute white things...and they moved. I went to the feed store, it was larva for ....grrrrr....brain fry...I can't remember. Anyway, I was told it wouldn't hurt the horses and to feed it out before it rotted, because this would cause the food to spoil. I just bought something differenst somewhere else. Yuck....not feeding bugs to my babies. Good luck with your mold issue.

 

[Marty]

It was great that you found it.

Just watch them closely. They may exhibit signs of colic or just being "sick" if they did in fact get some into their system. Just be vigilant for any changes in them. All you can do is watch them.

I buy my feed at a large place where the turnover is quick so I always get fresh feed. I never leave it in the back of my truck as it is possible that it can sour in the extreme heat. You also have to be sure that it does not get wet at all because as you see, you have mold. When I buy my feed I dump it into a garbage can and keep the lid on tight.

 

[MInx]

We have medium sized coated cardboard barrels that have an aluminum ring that locks itself shut and man does it work slick!

I used them for dogfood also and have never found bugsm mold anything in there..not even when it's hot. Stays dry.

We empty into them the minute we get home and since we only feed two we only buy a couple bags at a time of the Safe Choice..

Guess that wouldn't work for several horses, but the barrels were free from my nephews work after they emptied out beads from them at work so were also safe of contaminates.

Unfortunatly can't get them anymore so we treasure them.

Maxine

 

[justaboutgeese]

This topic has been discussed before at length. If a person only has one or two minis it is quite likely that feed will grow some sort of unwanted growth before the bag of feed is gone. Talk with your feed dealer and see if they will allow you to purchase in smaller quantity. Of course there are times that people with a herd of horses get a bad batch of feed or feed that is just plain "old" When we fed cattle the rule of thumb was feed should never be more than three or four weeks old from the mixer. Once the grains have been removed from storage they are more prone to spoilage and insect infestation.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

It is very difficult for those mini owners that only have a few kids. I suggest seeing if anyone near you with horses or minis would like to "go in" on feed and then you can share it. Keep the feed in a rubbermaid container or something like Minx has. This way when you empty the bag you instantly see the quality of the feed. I bought a bag of Complete Advantage last year and when I went to dump it it was NOT Complete Advantage. We must be very careful.