Hay Preservative & Horses

[RonNY]

Hay preservatives (propionic acid). Is it safe for horses?
Has anyone had problems feeding this treated hay to horses. Before I buy need your opinions or your experiences with this preservative

Ron

[mfaley]

That is an interesting question and one I had not heard anything about until a few weeks ago. I cant say for sure thats what the feed was being treated with however.

The person who seemed the most knowledgable was dead set against it. Not a lot of facts......just that he did not want to be feeding old bale feed to horses.

Maybe CowboyDoc, or others, know something about it.

Have you checked in with your local university ag dept? Good local vet?

Wish I had more for you.
Mark

[RonNY]

Thanks for replying
I got a response from cowboydoc on tractorbynet, all the replies on that forum so far say it is totally safe for all animals
Ron

<font color="red">just that he did not want to be feeding old bale feed to horses.
</font color>

Now that's true. You don't want to feed old hay to your horses. The preservative won't hurt them though. All it does is allow you to bale the hay sooner by halting the molding process. You still want to feed good clean fresh hay. The preservative won't take bad hay or old hay and make it look good. It can still look bad but not mold. All of the things you would look for in good hay should be there in hay treated with the acid.

[mfaley]

Is this common practice across the US or more common in certain areas?

Also, are there any residual elements that might interact with supplements?

I am pretty ignorant here.....

Mark

It's common practice all across the country Mark. Really no danger at all.