Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Round Bales + Deaths(?)

> The conversation was about mold and colic.

Actually, I thought the issue was about botulism.  Just as in improperly
processed canned foods for humans, the botulism organism (a Clostridium,
and a relative to tetanus, which kills by producing a toxin, not by the
bacterial infection itself) can, under the "right" circumstances,
reproduce and produce its toxin in tightly baled hay.  There needs to be a
bit of moisture there, if I remember right, but not necessarily enough to
produce mold.  Botulism also requires anaerobic conditions, so it will
occur in tightly baled round bales where no air can get in, as opposed to
small bales, where the baling simply can't be made that tight.  Like mold,
botulism is a problem of improperly cured hay.  Unlike mold, there is no
sign in the hay that the botulism is there, and the horse is not apt to be
put off from eating it.

This is a pretty rare problem, but since it is a problem of how the hay is
put up, it would not be unusual to not see cases for years at a time, and
then to see a handful of cases all the same year, simply because much of
the hay in a given year in a given locale is put up under the same weather
conditions and at approximately the same time.

Heidi



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