l have recently heard about botulism being a possible health risk of feeding round bales due to dead animals rotting inside and mold.l have read that indoor storage is preferable.

The round bales l buy are from hay grown for horses.They are wrapped in netting and keep their shape well, ie- not damaged by rain.They are stored outside in long rows, end to end and side by side.The only exposed area is the top.l throw away the bottom of the bale because it is usually a little wet.l feed the bale in a covered shed.

l feel like we have a pretty good situation, it could only be better if the hay was stored inside before we bought it.

Should l be concerned about botulism?The vaccine is over $2,500 last l heard.

l check the bale for mold every day and have not ever found any.

l am interested in hearing any personal experience anyone has with round bales, good or bad.

Thanks,
Heather
Is feeding the bale in a run in shed any more likely to mold than storing square bales in a shed(on pallets)?l used to buy square bales in bulk and would store them for up to 2-3 months.My round bales are gone within 3-5 weeks.If they are fed inside, would not it make sense that they wo not mold any faster than stored square bales?
Thanks for the link to Valley Vet.l have used them for lots of items, never vaccines though!l think l misread the blog post about the vaccine costing near $3000- That must have been the treatment cost!

Round rolls are usually a low quility of hay and yes do contain a lot of dust and mold. l do not recomend feeding it to horses. Go with good quality square bales. It costs more but thats the price you pay for having horses.

l have heard of it too, but it is unlikely. that said, l would not use rounds unless you have a lot of horses that are going to use it (to reduce risk of mold poisoning).

only time l have ever used rounds was at a large breeding farm.

In my opinion, if u r feeding round bales ur horse most definitely should be vaccinated against botulism.

Also, if you're being charged $2,500 for botulism vaccine, you're being waaaaay overcharged.

Do u know how to vaccinate ur own horses? If so, or have a friend that can, l highly recommend ordering the vaccine from Valley Vet:

http://valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?PGGUID=3a8e8c98-110f-436d-9d86-dbdd34972024

The dosage is 2ml of vaccine once a month for three months, then booster 2ml annually.

Edit: You're very welcome! :) Equus magazine did a pretty good article on botulism recently if u can find a copy. Yeah treatment is astronomically expensive & not even a sure thing to cure the horse.

l boarded my first horse at a friend is farm for three years. She fed round bales sometimes & our horses were vaccinated for botulism. My first mare l got at age 30 (a beloved former lesson horse of mine l wanted to give a retirement home to!) & she passed just shy of 33 from old age.not the round bales. :)

My other mare is boarded at a different friend is place & they only feed square, but l still vaccinate her as a precaution.

Good luck to u & ur horses!!

Yes. Seven horses colicked & one died at a place where l boarded. The source of the mold that caused it was the round bales being stored & fed outside. The owner was sued & lost. It was clearly established that round bales should be purchased from a dealer who stores them indoors, & that they should be eaten completely within 3 days of placing them outside. When moisture gets inside of the bales, the organic material begins to decompose, which is what allows mold to grow, and/or botulinum bacteria to begin to multiply & cause botulism in some horses who eat it. It was determined that 3 days is the longest these bales can safely remain outside in the elements.

They mold at about the same rate- small square can mold faster because there is more surface area. With round bales, we usually pull off the outer layer or two & throw it away before feeding it to the horses.

Round bales r perfectly fine. Yes, there has been the rare incidence where dead animals have been wrapped up in them, but we have also had square bales with clumps of feathers or bits of mice- that got cut up on the field & baled with the hay. It is a chance u r going to get from any hay.
Another problem is EPM- a possum pees on the hay on the field, & the horses eat it weeks later as food. We had several horses go down from EPM, most likely from this source because our dogs kill all the possums in the yard.
There is nothing u can do about it, as much as l hate it, u just have to hope that there is no diseases in it.

Indoor storage, on pallets, is definately preferable for any type of hay- keeping it dry & cool is the best way to keep mold from growing.

Round bales, at least in my area, r lower quality hay than most square bales.

l am probably going to get thumbs down for this, but if we have hay that is starting to mold, but is not bad, we throw it in to the horses- not in the feed tanks, but in addition to it on the ground. The horses pick through what is edible (they know what is good & bad hay) & we throw the rest out. However, we have outside horses that have strong stomachs & immune systems. Only had a mild colic case once because the horse was too lazy to walk up with the rest & get water.She was also nursing a foal, which probably added to the dehydration. l would never feed lightly molded hay to a horse that did not have other food options available, colics easily, or was a stall horse for their entire life.

l would NEVER feed a round bale that was stored (before purchase, before giving to the horses) outside in the elements. I'd want it stored under a roof with a couple of sides.
All of the round bales I've fed have been clean & dry.
Bales that r lined up against eachother, outside in the elements r for cattle, not horses. They r the moldy, dirty, polluted bales. You do not want to buy those.

When u have a couple of horses eating on a round bale it wo not last long enough to get wet & moldy so u do not 'need' to keep it in the run-in. If u have only one horse on it, then yes.it should be kept under cover as the one horse cannot eat it fast enough.

Just my opinion.

l am in Texas & almost everyone feeds round bales, l have not heard of any horses dying from it. My neighbor has the highest rated hay in the state, & he round bales all of it. l feed round & square from the same guy & have had no problems with sick horses in the last six years, since l moved here. l feed inside & outside stored hay. Most horses, unless starving, wo not even touch hay that smells or is moldy. l guess it is each ones personal opinion. l just have never had any problems. The insides of the bales r still green & good, even if the outside isn't. Depends on how its baled & the quality. l have fed round bales in Alaska, Nebraska, Missouri & never had any problems.

That is the hay l use. As for the dead animals and such l can tell you that that is just as likely from square bales ( l know, because l have put up enough)

l do feed by taking the bale apart and feeding over the fence.

Round bale hay is not necessarily any poorer hay than square bales. It all depends on the field and how it is put up.


If you store them inside they are no different than square bales.

round bails = low quality hay is BS

low quality hay comes from low quality fields

you get mold from putting up wet hay or letting it get rained on. Round or square

you need to check ALL hay b4 you feed it

Your not suppose to feed round bales to horses, it can kill them. The reason for this is because that horses cant eat moldy hay & round bales mold quicker than square bales, even if its fresh cut hay it will mold very easy. It do not matter how they r stored if they get any rain or any moisture to them they will mold. Only cows r supposed to eat round bales. l think that the only way a horse could ever eat a round bale would be if the hay was dried out really really really well before it was baled & then took right away to a dry place where it would not get wet in any way, & l still would not feed it to my horses just for the fact it can kill them.