What do farmers do with moldy hay?

The best course of action often is to minimize feeding moldy hay to more sensitive animals, such as horses or pregnant cows. This may require a keen eye or sensitive nose when selecting hay to feed each day.

What can be done with moldy hay?

If your moldy hay is still wrapped in its wire or plastic netting, consider using this bale as a planter. It would be best to use transplants and that your hay bale is composting. Place your moldy bale where you'd like and remove hay from the spots where you'll be planting your transplants.

Is it OK to feed cows moldy hay?

Risks of Feeding Moldy Hay

Consuming moldy hay can lead to respiratory and digestive problems such as heaves and colic. Cattle and other ruminants aren't as sensitive to moldy hay. However, moldy hay can still cause issues such as aspergillosis and mycotic abortions in cattle.

What do you do with rotten hay bales?

Chop or shred spoiled hay and add it to your garden soil in the fall as an organic soil amendment. Work it into the soil with a garden tiller or hand tools and let nature take its course in breaking down the bits of hay. Organic matter improves soil by increasing aeration, improving drainage and adding nutrients.

Can I put moldy hay on my garden?

It does indeed break down, but unless you have a very wet environment it shouldn't get moldy. Instead, it will start to compost, creating a rich layer of nutrients for your plants. This is especially good for seeds and starter plants. They thrive in the warm, moist and nutritious cover and soil provided by the hay.

What can you do with moldy hay?

Can you use moldy hay for compost?

Moldy hay is a great material to compost. Whomever told you otherwise is not familiar with the microbes in the soil. Molds are everywhere and they need to be.

Can chickens eat moldy hay?

In my experience moldy flakes break down very slowly in the compost pile and it's a real pain when they're still not finished composting a year later. I threw a couple moldy crusty flakes to my chickens yesterday and they did a great job of breaking them apart.

What happens if horses eat moldy hay?

Moldy hay can kill a horse. It's a cause of colic that can be fatal, and some types of mold are toxic to horses. And inhaled mold spores enter horses' respiratory systems when they eat, causing heaves or other chronic respiratory diseases. Feeding moldy hay to horses is dangerous.

Will moldy hay cause cows to abort?

Cattle aren't as sensitive to moldy hay, but certain molds can result in mycotic abortions or aspergillosis. 3. Moldy hay also puts ranchers at risk.

What is the white stuff on hay?

In hay, the white mold in the bale is the mycelium and dustiness is from the tiny spores. The potential for hay molding starts even with the standing hay crop where bacteria protects the plant from fungal and yeast infections.

Can animals eat moldy hay?

Mixing moldy hay with other feedstuffs can dilute problems sometimes, but be careful that you don't make your animals sick by tricking them into eating bad hay that they normally would refuse. Mold is a difficult problem to deal with. Common sense and good observation often are your best decision aids.

What do you do with spoiled feeds?

At feedout, discard visibly spoiled feed and the forage immediately around it. Situations occur where the visibly spoiled feed is actually stable again, albeit robbed of nutrients, and active deterioration is taking place all around the spoilage, 50 percent or greater in size of the spoiled feed.

Can you feed moldy hay to horses?

Quick facts. Don't feed moldy hay to horses. Most moldy hay problems are from mold spores, which can produce respiratory disease in horses. Many of the common mold toxins develop in the field during a delayed harvest.

Can you wash mold off of hay?

To eliminate mold commonly found in hay bales, West Chester, Pa., equine veterinarian Frank Reilly suggests “flash soaking” — tearing pieces of hay off of the bale, putting them in a hay net and then under a heavy rock in a bucket of water for 10 minutes. Studies have shown this reduces the organic dust count, he says.

Will goats eat moldy hay?

Do not feed goats silage unless you are very familiar with handling and storing it. Avoid wet, moldy hay and grain. Moist feeds formulated with molasses have a high incidence of mold, especially in hot weather.

Is wet hay bad for cows?

Mixing moldy hay with other feedstuffs can dilute problems sometimes, but be careful that you don't make your animals sick by tricking them into eating bad hay that they normally would refuse. Hay baled too wet also is susceptible to heat damage, also called enzymatic browning.

Will moldy silage hurt cows?

A common toxic effect in cattle exposed to any storage-produced mycotoxins is a change in ruminal flora make-up, which alters rumen fermentation. Long-term feeding of moldy silages can produce local inflammatory responses that may lead to rumenitis.

Can moldy hay be saved?

Moldy hay frequently causes respiratory problems in horses. Recurrent airway obstruction, commonly known as heaves, is a lung disease that compromises a horse's ability to breathe. It is similar to asthma in humans and is a chronic condition that can only be managed, not cured.

Can horses eat 2 year old hay?

If the hay was of good-quality when harvested and stored in a dry place with sufficient airflow, hay is likely suitable for consumption for two to three years. Keep in mind that hay, even premium forage, loses much of its vitamin content in the first few months of storage.

Does rain ruin fresh cut hay?

Quality and Quantity. Research at Iowa State University found that fresh-cut hay with less than 1 inch of rain took a few more hours to dry, but didn't suffer much, if any, quality or quantity loss. A light rain on nearly dry hay, though, caused significant losses.

How do you get rid of mold in a straw?

Waste Collection Services

You may be able to dispose of old straw bales through local waste management services. Most cities pick up yard waste regularly.

Can hay be used as fertilizer?

“Hay as fertilizer provides a full nutrient package rather than just NPK,” Gerrish said. Gerrish noted that in much of the U.S., hay can be bought at a lower price than most farmers would pay to produce and harvest it on their land. This includes the value of all the nitrogen (N) and minerals contained in that hay.