Musty hay?

[TwoByrdsMG]

I know don't smell the hay...

I have a customer who called and said her horses stopped eating her hay. Brought hay to her for a couple years.

We moisture tested all of her hay before delivery.

No visible mold/dust. She says the hay smells off and now her horses won't eat it. I delivered it to her 7 months ago.

I went and inspected it and there are no signs of growing mold or dust in the hay. We broke open a few bales and they were dry and green. She asked what could cause it?

She has no leaks in the barn (new roof), stored on wood floor, it has good circulation and both top & bottom bales were similar.

 

[callmefence]

If she's regular customer and usually reasonable , probably best to replace it or least part, find some middle ground.
Feed it to some cattle
Let her know full well your doing it as customer satisfaction, not because you think the hay is defective. Little deals like this can be opportunitys that pay you back exponentially for years....you can also get burned, but I've found it worth the risk.

 

[WFfarm]

Animals, like cats or raccoons getting into the hay and peeing on it?

 

[Texasmark]

Was the hay from a field from which you baled and sold hay (to them) before? I have baled pastures for folks as a favor, not knowing the crop, horses not eating it like I had in previous years, just to find out that Yellow Nutsedge, noxious weed, had taken over the pasture and horses don't eat that. I absorbed the loss.

 

[jltrent]

Baling a field of hay sometimes a week later than the year before I have notice the cattle want eat it as good. Don't know if that was the problem or not. Maybe her horses are just not hungry.

 

[callmefence]

Baling a field of hay sometimes a week later than the year before I have notice the cattle want eat it as good. Don't know if that was the problem or not. Maybe her horses are just not hungry.

Good point... Do the horses have access to pasture..is so there's your problem.

 

[greggy]

7 months ago ? and they wont eat it now ?

Am I reading the 7 right ?

Could be a number of things, weather blew some moisture in on the bales, horses not hungry, they just do not like it ?

What are they expecting you to do, and why did it take 7 months to tell you ?

Around here, about the only thing horse people buy is what you call alfalfa & in small squares.

Did you take some to see if your cattle eat it ? If your cattle eat it, not hard to swap if you want too, but what if you get told again they do not want to eat it ? If bales are good, maybe they can sell to someone else with less finicky stock.

Do they have goats too ?