So mad at myself: Hay/horse Nettles

[wingnut]

About a month ago, I bought some grass hay from a new supplier. I really liked the looks of the hay...soft, fresh, green. The horses love it. I noticed some thorny stems with green berries in the hay. Not a lot but I pulled one or two stems out of every other flake or so. These are your average 30-40lb square bales. I knew I should investigate further but I kept forgetting. I just took care to remove the stems/berries before putting the hay out. It did not appear to me that the hay was other wise "contaminated" by the stems/berries.

Yesterday, I called the supplier again to see about getting more of this hay. The horses are doing well on it. I only bought a few bales to test it. I mentioned the stems/berries as an afterthought at the end of our conversation. He said "Oh, darn. Those are hay nettles. I need to spray that field." My spidey-senses piqued at that.

So, today I looked it up. And of course, as many of you likely know, this is a *poisonous* plant!!!! Arrrghhh!!! I haven't seen any signs or symptoms in my horses that would alert me to their actually eating these things, but I am so mad at myself for not looking into this further. I'm going to let the supplier know that I can't buy any more of his hay until he can confirm he has eliminated the problem.

:::: sigh :::: I post this in an effort to educate other newbies like myself who might run across this. If you google for it, you can find a lot of images. I now recognized the mature yellow berries as something I've seen before in the fields around our house (we own farm property that is rented to a local grain farmer). This is not, however, in our pasture at all.

Also, do you think there is any connection to the fact that this hay, like none other I've used before, makes my skin crazy? I have to change my shirt when I come in after putting it out because of it.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I couldn't find anything bad about it, just looking up "hay nettle". Seems like most of the entries thought it was edible. What part of the country are you in?

In loose hay, most horses won't eat the bad stuff, unless they are desperate.

A weed here with berries that are yellow when mature is nightshade. Horses won't eat it, so you are probably okay.

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Didn't look it up, but I do not know of nettles binging poisonous. Sheep and goats eat them preferentially. They occur all over around here and I've never had a problem with a horse.

Dr. Taylor

 

[Minimor]

Horse nettles is a member of the nightshade family and is poisonous. Fortunately it is not very palatable and horses are not likely to eat much. Poisonous effects are not cumulative, which is good.

Stinging nettle is the non poisonous nettle that is usually associated with the word 'nettle'

 

[Debby - LB]

Minimor is right. When I was reading your description of the thorny stem with the green berries this describes horse nettle!

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

I am in error. Our nettles, which are a true nettle, are not your horse nettles, which are not a true nettle. Sorry for the incorrect information.

Dr. Taylor

 

[wingnut]

http://extension.psu.edu/pests/weeds/weed-id/horsenettle

This is one article that has a good picture of what's in my hay.

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/how-toxic-is-this-weed/

This article talks about it's impact on horses. Like most of you have said, it's likely my horses ignored it as they had plenty of other good stuff to eat.

Chalking it up as another lesson learned.

Dr. Taylor, I live in Maryland.

 

[Debby - LB]

most down here call it bull nettle. I can't stand to see it and don't trust the horses not to eat it. One good thing about it is it's easy to see in my pasture so I spray it and/or pull it up by the roots when I do see it.