Horses not eating hay

[seminolewind]

My 2 horses are not eating the last 50 bales of hay we bought. There's nothing wrong with it. Smells good, looks good, they eat a little of it and then toss the rest around. The only thing I could think of is that it's a 3rd or 4th cutting, so it would be kindof bland.
Anyone else have that problem?

 

[farmin'chick]

I sometimes had problems at changeover, when I was buying hay. I learned to keep back some and mix it with the new batch, and they seemed to transition better. If you're worried, try supplementing with alfalfa cubes.

 

[geebs]

I have a horse that went off the hay because it wasn't any good... I don't know what your horses problem is but I can tell you that we left him to eat and and finally he did... He got hives and we had to give him shots... (just food for thought)... Horses are pretty smart.

 

[cw]

ours wouldnt eat any hay, didnt matter what it was if they had any green in the pasture, you being in fl, is the grass still growing slowly?

 

[Tala]

Quote:
I don't have horses, but my dog is the same way. She refused to eat a package of chicken legs once, looked and smelled fine to us humans. Two days later it was NASTY smelling!
I trust her about these things.

Would be really bad if there was something wrong with 50 bales though. One pack of chicken is nothin compared to that

 

[buck-wild-chick]

My horses will toss the hay aside if it has alot of long stems. They will eat it eventually, very slowly while eye balling you.

 

[hollyclyff]

I got a load of hay this fall that my horses started out eating just fine, but then they stopped. Wouldn't touch it. I couldn't find anything wrong with it except that it just didn't have much of a smell at all to it. My hay guy was kind enough to switch it out for some from a different field/cutting and they're still eating the new stuff like normal. I have no idea why they stopped eating that hay.

 

[joletabey]

Mine get picky every once in a while, too. They won't eat the bales from the bottom of the hay pile where the dumb dogs have managed to pee( well, really, neither would I if I were a horse) - and sometimes they are picky when I switch over( I also try to mix) There could be a weed mixed in there that you can't identify cuz it's dried. . . . . I have learned to trust my horses on bad hay-

 

[seminolewind]

Well I'm glad to hear that others have spoiled horses. This is end of the year hay and certainly not as tasty as the earlier cuttings. There are no weeds in it. They do eat about half of what I put out there. It's not the first time I've had other horses that would do the same thing. They finished 2 flakes last night from the same hay.

 

[Karrie13]

I have had that problem too and mine refused to even eat any no matter how long it was left. I ended up buying different hay and using the other for bedding.