Bad Hay

[AlbinoGiant]

So it happened a second time...

I found a new hay supplier and the first bale I bought was perfect and of very good quality. My rabbits really enjoyed it. I was starting to run low on hay so I bought another bale except I noticed something a little off about this bale. The bale looked musky and the outside was straw like in appearance. I thought maybe some straw had been mixed in but it only showed on the outside.

I cut open the bale when I got home and I didn't think to much of it and fed it to my rabbits. Two days later the rabbits got sick and became dehydrated drinking lots of water and were sitting hunched in a corner not wanting to move much. I removed all the hay and they started improving, after I gave them some activated charcoal they sprang back into life shortly afterwards and started to behaive like bunnies again. I am feeding them on rabbit food mix, the rabbits appear to be fine now.

Just to confirm it was the hay "second time its happened to me" I put one rabbit in another pen and fed that separately on the suspected bad hay and it become ill.

Upon further inspection of the bale its very dusty and I can see what looks like mold on some hay strands but also the bale looks musky like its got wet at some point and dried and probably last summers hay.

I don't think the hay has been stored correctly so now that this is the second time that this has happened I really don't trust buying hay bales anymore. I think I will try my luck on pet store hay even though its probably less nutritional, but its better than the rabbits dying from organ failure from bad hay.

Bad hay can kill rabbits in a matter of days. A lot of the time people have no idea what they are giving to there rabbit and then once it dies they have no clue why it suddenly got sick and died. Its not always easy to spot a bad bale because even the slightest thing wrong with the hay can kill a rabbit. It also kills horses. Rabbits need hay as part of their main diet.

This is what happens... rabbits eat bad hay, they then start drinking a lot of water and then urinating a lot which is clear urine like they have a problem with the filtration of there kidneys, shortly after they become very poorly and then will stop eating and go into GI Stasis, then death.

As this is the second time I saw the signs early and removed the hay. I'm currently feeding them on pet store hay which seems to be ok.

 

[ladysown]

Good catch, May I make a suggestion?
When buying hay, give it a good sniff. If you smell anything other than a dry grass smell... Don't buy it. if you don't like the looks of the outside, ask for a different bale.

 

[AlbinoGiant]

Sometimes the smell test isn't always reliable, bad hay can still smell good, then there is smelling the differences between a bad and a good bale especially when there are no good bales to compare the smell test unless its very bad in which case most wouldn't touch it who are experienced. A slightly bad bale can still smell like hay, a lot of places wont let you cut the bale open before buying. I'll be more prepared next time and if I'm unsure about a bale I wont take it. A bale of hay should be the same contrast and color all the way through, discoloration ares or patches is another tell tail sign especially if the outside of the bale is lighter in contrast or golden like straw when its all hay.

 

[AlbinoGiant]

I also wonder if any chemicals or pesticides are sprayed in the fields where the hay grows? Maybe some stores and other places are buying cheap hay to sell on for profit that isn't fit for animal consumption... its a possibility. With the current state of things happening today with prices rising on everything people could be cutting corners such as buying cheap hay to sell on would make sense. I am based in the UK so bad hay might not be as much of an issue state side.

I never used to have this problem, now I am very careful about what hay I'm buying but not only that... if I buy bad hay, not only does it cost me to buy it it also costs me in vet bills when the bunnies get sick and vets are not cheap these days plus it leaves me with a lot of hay to dump out. Its not always easy to tell what is bad hay. I'm avoiding hay bales now until summer when its in season and likely to be better. I'll be buying packet hay for now from pet stores which might not be of high quality but better to feed rabbits on it rather than no hay or deadly bad hay.

 

[Preitler]

I had bales with mold too, it was in the core not the outside. Should remember to tear every bale apart and check before feedig it, luckily no problems with the buns. The problem was only with bales I thought i got a bargain because they were very compressed and heavy, but did cost the same as the fluffy bales 2/3rds the weight. Nope, not a good deal.
The other issue with mold was when I had a bag 25kg bag of pellets leaning against a cold wall, condensation occured at the contact point and caused mold. Now I have the bag on a cabinet, in the middle of an upside down chair so it doesn't touch anything cold. I adhere to this princiüple too for storing hay.

Here, hay is whatever grows on meadows, not farmed single species stuff. I've read about issues with farmed hay dowsed in glyphosat, which killed off vegetable gardens when the rabbit manure was used.

 

[a2lute]

I grew up on a small hay farm, about 120 acres. There's a lot of way to mess up, but also a lot of ways to do it right. I would get in touch with a local farmer and buy direct. If you can get a good look at their storage space and equipment you should have an idea of how they treat their job. It also wouldn't hurt to find a farmer who feeds his own horses the same hay.

 

[Rabbit Warren Man]

I grew up on a small hay farm, about 120 acres. There's a lot of way to mess up, but also a lot of ways to do it right. I would get in touch with a local farmer and buy direct. If you can get a good look at their storage space and equipment you should have an idea of how they treat their job. It also wouldn't hurt to find a farmer who feeds his own horses the same hay.

Good advice, people who have never had horses and have never cured hay may not realize that when grass is cut to make hay it must dry in the sun. It is important that the hay does not get rained on as this could cause hay to become mouldy or dusty and heavy dew can do the same thing.
Always check the hay you are buying, excessively heavy bails could be a sign of wet bales or hay bailed to green. Keep in mind hay bailed to green and spontaneously combust.
Look for hay that is bailed in dry conditions no rain, and stored under tarp or under roof.
Hay can be any kind of grass or grass mix or mixed with alfalfa. You see Alfalfa referred to as hay but it is not grass hay it is a legume.
Rabbits and horses require long stem grasses for the rear gut which feeds the bacteria essential for health in Rabbits and horses, alfalfa is not long stem grass.

 

[rabbet]

Try taking some of the bad hay and chopping it fine then mixing it with the potted soil of a houseplant. Aminopyralid is a herbicide that's increasingly problematic in the U.K. and North America, where it's used to mask bad hay and land management practices and is increasingly prevalent in hay. A poster above had mentioned glyphosate but the half life of glyphosate is forty days and the half life of aminopyralids something like five to ten years, including in manure.

In the U.K.'s maritime climate I could see the creation of good hay being a challenge. Where I am located summer humidity is something around 10% in the afternoons so good hay is a fact, not an exception. Storage, on the other hand, seems to wreck quite a lot of hay.