Bad feed?!

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C

cereshill

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Dec 26, 2009
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Location
Western Wash.
So, I am wondering if the oats I gave the moms is the culprit! F2 died during teh day; I have only fed the four moms and two are not doing well. One isn't eating, one died and the two other seems ok.

The rest of the herd is on pellets and seems fine. normal stools etc.

The oats are at the bottom of a reused feed bag and are a year old. I now think this may be my issue.

I am thrownig all feed out, feeding a fresh bag and will report back.
 
I only fed old fashioned oats from the supermarket and they were fairly fresh. I wouldn't trust oats that were a year old.

A tablespoon of calf manna/animax usually did the trick as supplemental for the doe.

Have a good day!
 
1 yr old? Thats probably the problem. I wouldnt use any fee that old for any animals.
 
By all means discard the oats. It sounds like they may have got damp at some point and moulded. The actual age of the grain - assuming we are talking about whole oats - is less likely to be the issue than storage conditions. After all, harvest to harvest is a full year and grains are still viable after that length of time.
 
For long term storage of grain products you want a better container.
Feed bags just are no good for long term.
I put all our feeds into 55 gallon plastic drums with locking lids.
 
Ground oats have a shorter shelf life than whole oats. Any grain will deteriorate if it gets damp. I agree with R.Pines advice on storage.

I'm sorry you lost the does, CH. That is really sad. :(
 
yes, its been a really rough couple days. Part of learning--but not a fun part at all. I put a lot of time and care into them; they gave me some great litters, but I really had hopes for a longer run.
 
all feed is stored in a dry room without massive changes in humidity/temp.
I am now thinking the issue is the old garden hose hooked up last weekend...
 
You've been saying for weeks that you have horrible rain. The humidity out on the west coast is notoriouse. Feed is NOT safe to feed in that kind of atmosphere if it's been sitting around for 6 months, let alone a year. Doesn't matter if it's in a dry room, as in one that doesn't get rained on. A completely controlled atmosphere..maybe you've got a chance. The grain soaks up humidity, and the mold spores that are EVERYWHERE then grow. You may not see the mold, but there are thousands of molds that are toxic and invisible.

There is a hay mold that can't be smelled by the human nose. But if it's in a hay bale and you feed to a horse...the horse will start exhibiting neurological symptoms, and if they're not treated, they'll die.

You hooked up an old garden hose without bleaching it out first? And just used it to water your rabbits? THINK about that. Would you have used that hose to make koolaid out of for yourself or kids?
 
anywhere mould can grow you are likely to get problems .. but it could be anything else too

it may be a combination of the hose and the oats .. and goodness knows what else

I'm very sad for the animals that suffer while people learn :(
 
I have been watering our buns some with the garden hose out back... I hadn't even thought about it. I haven't had any problems, but that may be due to the fact that the hose is used daily at this time of year.
 
I have never thought to bleach out a hose; when a child we drank out of them. We have used hoses at teh farm and at home for watering all animals with out incident. This time I hooked up a hose that had been unused over winter/spring. Excuse me for making the error, but in several years on HT and now here, not once have I seen someone talk about bleaching a hose....
 

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