Rye Grass /Rye Grass Hay Toxicity

[Ryan Johnson]

Hi everyone ,

I have a friend that has recently lost a miniature foal to Rye grass /Rye Grass hay Toxicity. Understandably, Rye grass is more found in Australia, NZ, Europe and parts of America. Until recently I had no idea of the complications of feeding Rye Grass to horses and other livestock in general, I had been feeding it to my horses for years and Ive never had a problem.

From what Im told and understand, and please correct me if I am wrong, is that Miniature horses and ponies especially have trouble processing the toxic grass blades , causing the toxins to build within the stomach, causing colic like symptoms. Generally, during the initial stage of infection, the horse becomes very lethargic , starts to tremble and at times can lead to "Ryegrass Staggers". Rye grass staggers occurs when the fungi affects the part of the brain that controls muscle coordination.

My friends little foal did not show any of the initial signs before she went down hill dramatically and in the end, could not stand. When she rang me initially I thought Colic for sure, this never occurred to me as the problem. Unfortunately for my friend, who was devastated, had to have her little foal PTS as there was nothing the vet could further do.

The problem that makes the grass toxic from my understanding is a fungi that grows around the base of the blade of grass and when paddocks and pastures have been over eaten, this is when the problem occurs as livestock are eating closer to the fungi at ground level.

If anyone has any information or has dealt with this (which im hoping not) , Id greatly appreciate your input.

Cheers

 

[Debby - LB]

When I had a lot of horses we used to over seed with annual ryegrass for winter grazing but other than that I know about as much as you posted so no help for your question. I just wanted to say how very sorry I am for your friends loss. I know she must be devastated.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Thanks Debby

 

[amysue]

I am so sorry to hear about your friends horse. I asked my husband about ryegrass, as he drills it in every winter as a cover crop and round bails it wet for the cows in the summer. They love it. He said that all of the "equine" pasture forage grass seed has things like rye grass, fescue etc in it, even though they can be bad for horses (then he went off on a rant about seed). Anyway, I always thought it was a fungus related to Ergot that grew at the base of rye? I meet with the seed dealer this week to pick up my Sudan, sweetcorn and sunflower seeds and I'll ask him.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Thanks Amysue that would be great. Yes thats what im led to believe it has something to do with the fungi that grows at the base of the grass.

Thanks for your help

 

[paintponylvr]

A lot of barns here in NC over seed with Winter Rye - in the fall - for grass to graze in the first months of winter. Some of our hay suppliers have also baled it mixed with their coastal hay. Some horses eat it well, some do not. Hmmm...."food for thought"...

Never heard of problems with Rye Grass before - that's a new one. Just knew about the problem with Fescue.

I'm so sorry for your friends' loss!

 

Ryan, I googled rye toxicity and found a couple of good articles about the rye toxicity, and a couple that are about the toxicity in Australia, by Merck.

 

[paintponylvr]

WOW, the Merck write ups are eye opening. Did not know all that.

Was kinda scary... but what I didn't really see in my reading was how to deal with it, though the best way seems to be not to overgraze the pastures or to have the seed sit for 18-24 months to kill the endophyte that causes the problem.

 

[amysue]

My seed supplier said that they test seeds now for several things, and the endophyte toxin is one of them, as it starts in the seed. You can buy your seed that has been cleared for safety, if you plan to over seed or re seed a pasture. He also said that supposedly it takes years to manifest inside the plant, he couldn't find me the article about it, but I think the Merk manual described it as well. He says that usually, the slime that indicates a problem is visible, so you can identify the problem before it's too late.