Soggy Bottom Ranch
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I had a friend of mine call, who also has miniatures, and 3 minis in 2 weeks had been down with colic. They had the vet out on 2 emergancy calls, vet looked through some random bales, very well, and didn't see anything wrong, it's dry and soft. They did just get this load of grass hay in not long ago, and when I asked, was told it was 1st crop from this year.
I have been trying to help with a few thoughts off the top of my head as what to suggest, and would like to see if I can get help with some other suggestions. The vet left them some bags to check for sand in the manure, so they are exploring the fact that this could be sand related, however, they feel very strongly that this is something to do with the hay. Several of the horses have runny stool to the point where it is coating the tails, others have just soft stool, and some are fine.
I asked what they had been given for grain, and they the first two that went down were on the bottom part of a bag, and she had just opened a new bag when this last one went down. But they hardly get any, just enough to get them in to the barn. They do go out on grass in the evening, however it is very short.
They said when they walk in the barn, the hay smells VERY rich, almost too rich. One of the things I had thought of, because we had such a wet spring/summer here in our area, and hardly anyone got hay off the field dry, was to see if possibly the hay had been sprayed with some type of preservative before baling. What effect would this preservative have on minis, if any, if it was on there? And is there a way to tell if it had been sprayed with a preservative?
I have been trying to help with a few thoughts off the top of my head as what to suggest, and would like to see if I can get help with some other suggestions. The vet left them some bags to check for sand in the manure, so they are exploring the fact that this could be sand related, however, they feel very strongly that this is something to do with the hay. Several of the horses have runny stool to the point where it is coating the tails, others have just soft stool, and some are fine.
I asked what they had been given for grain, and they the first two that went down were on the bottom part of a bag, and she had just opened a new bag when this last one went down. But they hardly get any, just enough to get them in to the barn. They do go out on grass in the evening, however it is very short.
They said when they walk in the barn, the hay smells VERY rich, almost too rich. One of the things I had thought of, because we had such a wet spring/summer here in our area, and hardly anyone got hay off the field dry, was to see if possibly the hay had been sprayed with some type of preservative before baling. What effect would this preservative have on minis, if any, if it was on there? And is there a way to tell if it had been sprayed with a preservative?
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