Hay and its Unforeseen Dangers

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Every performance horse owner has a very rigorous exercise and feeding program. Today there are so many feed supplements that it is very easy to ensure your animal gets every nutrient it needs to perform at its very best. However, even with all these extra additives every horse needs the basics in their diets. Primarily roughage, for those people who do not have access to year-round pasture the alternative is hay.

The first step of the process of hay production is the standing crop. The standing crops contain bacteria and yeasts. This is where potential mold growth begins (Smith). Once the crop has been cut the moisture of the plant is then decreased very quickly. This now allows a new group of microbes to begin to reproduce and spread. Hay that is apparently dusty but lacks visual evidence of mold, is caused by fungi growing in the cut hay that is drying out in the field. After the hay has been baled, yet another new group of microbes (mainly consisting of fungi and yeasts) start to reproduce (Smith). These new fungi are better suited to fill this new, drier, and warmer niche. The most common molds found in hay include Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporum, Fusarium, Mucor, Penicillium, and Rhizopus each of these types cause spores that can cause problems for livestock and especially horses (Lemus). Out of these common types of fungi, there are three types that start to grow mainly during storage; These are Aspergillis, Fusarium and Penicillium. Several of the fungi that grow during the hay bale storage process are known to produce mycotoxins. These are the organisms that feed off sugars and organic acids emitted from the plant during the drying process and they are also the types of fungi that cause hay to become moldy (Smit...

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Lemus, Rocky. MSUcares. Mississippi State U, Dec. 2009. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

Smith, Ray. “Understanding and Reducing Mold Growth in Hay.” The Camelid Quarterly (June 2005): n. pag. Google Scholar. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. .

“Mycelium.” Merrium-Webster Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.

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