Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Thistles in hay

From: Tina

Dear Jessica,

I purchased 52 bales of quality hay, horses loved it. He just delivered 25 bales the other day, which is full of thistles. I'm trying to pull out as many barbs as I can, but I'm sure I miss some. Is this harmful for them to eat or Should I send it back?

Thank You for your advice, Tina

Hi Tina! If I were you, I'd send those bales back immediately, for three reasons. First, thistles are dangerous to your horses. Thistles can cause local irritation and sores to the delicate tissues of the mouth. Your horses need better hay. If there's no better hay available, your horses will be better off with another source of roughage - chaff or beet pulp - than with thistle-infested hay.

Second, you're losing money. Hay is expensive and horse-owners go to great lengths to secure and store good-quality horse hay for their animals. When you pay for bales of hay and find them to be full of toxic or unpalatable weeds, you're getting much less than what you paid for. There is no leftover material when you feed a bale of good hay. If you find that the "horse hay" you've purchased is being sifted by your horses, and that there are piles of weeds and extraneous materials going uneaten at every meal, then you can be sure that you aren't getting the hay you paid for. If you find thistles... call the supplier and ask him to pick up the offending hay immediately, and replace it with proper horse-quality hay.

Third, if you are like most horse-owners, you try hard to maintain the quality of the forage in your own paddocks and pastures. Thistles are invasive, hardy, persistent, and terribly difficult to eradicate (just ask your hay supplier!). By allowing a load of contaminated hay to stay on your property, you'll be setting yourself up to grow a bumper crop of thistles wherever you presently have grasses.

Pulling out the barbs yourself is not the answer - you couldn't possibly locate and remove all of them, and even if you could, they would still be on your property! Don't feel bad about calling your supplier - the sooner he knows about the thistles, the sooner he can begin correcting the problem in the hayfield. Of course he won't be happy to know that one of his fields is full of thistles, but he WILL appreciate the information - and he'll also appreciate your giving him the chance to replace the bad hay and keep a customer.

Good luck!

Jessica

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