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  Discussion on Grass Hay cubes as substitute for Hay gone bad
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Posted on Saturday, Dec 22, 2001 - 2:19 pm:

After experiencing 2 episodes of colic and 1 extreme alergic reaction this past winter, I have finally sourced the problem: moldy hay. It was not immediately evident in our bales of alfalfa/grass mix & can only be discovered by examining each flake carefully before feeding.

We want to purchase grass hay cubes in bulk in our area (Portola - NE California near Reno, NV), but cannot find a local source. Can anyone give a recommendation?

P.S.
Tried to access the "haycube.com" website posted in a message by Dr. Oglesby, but it let to some website building page. Could I get the correct address?

Also, what quantity of cubes do we feed to substitute for 20lbs of alfalfa/grass mix per day?
Our horses are brother/sister 3yrs-2yrs respectively, Anglo-Arab/Thoroughbred, healthy, energetic & still growing. They get little to no exercise in the winter months, but it has been a TERRIBLE winter here, the worst they have yet to experience so far & they live outdoors w/a shelter to get out of the wind & snow. Hopefully they have experienced no permanent damage--no evidence of coughing, but the filly is still itching & losing some hair to the alergic reaction.

Any recommendations are most appreciated.

Posted on Sunday, Dec 23, 2001 - 7:59 am:

Hi Jivan,
I know someone at the Advisor will give you a good web site re: hay cubes. I'm writing to interject a warning about them as they do not come with any feeding instructions. For a year, I have been feeding the Alfalfa cubes to my 34 yr. old stallion due to teeth problems. I'm feeding the alfalfa because I can't get anything else in my area (Michigan). The cubes I feed are like rocks and must be soaked in hot water for about an hour before they break down. I then have to break them up further with my hands. Even then, I usually throw 1 or 2 out because they don't break down at all. Additionally, when you get through soaking and breaking down the cubes, the weight is significant.

A friend of mine saw me going through this routine one day and told me they had fed hay cubes to a horse out in Calif who had gotten a terrible case of choke and impacted esophagus.
They did not know that the cubes had to be soaked first.

I used to be able to get a timothy/alfalfa mixed cube and this was softer and broke down easier. But I still had to soak them. My point is that the cubes are a real hassle and time consuming. For my old stallion, I have no alternatives that are as ultimately good for Him (not me) than the cubes. However, I feed hay to everyone else.

Some thing to think about.

Sally

Posted on Sunday, Dec 23, 2001 - 11:16 am:

Jivan, try this one, https://www.ontariodehy.com/. They make a number of different cubed hay products including a mixed alfalfa/timothy and a straight timothy. Though they are in Canada they will ship anywhere and it does seem to be hard to find anything but cubed alfalfa.
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Dec 23, 2001 - 2:06 pm:

Opps I see I have left out some info. First I did want to comment that itchy skin caused by hay mold is an unusual diagnosis and not something I have seen and these type reactions (atopy) are only rarely proposed in horses and usually are presented as just conjecture in the literature. To answer your other questions Jivan, I have included a piece about using cubes in the article on Hay and Forage in the Care: Nutrition section.

Sally, most folks who feed cubes do so without soaking them, without problems. Choke can occur for a variety of reasons and with just about any food stuff. However, as you have found, for horses with teeth problems soaking is recommended.
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 25, 2001 - 4:37 pm:

Sally, I had an old guy with NO molars at all, and sometimes he could be a picky eater. Kwik solved our problems with him. Actually, he did so well, that we put all our horses that don't work hard on it ( keeping their normal hay ration - this means you feed much less than the recomendation ) instead of grain.

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 26, 2001 - 4:45 pm:

Elizabeth,
What exactly is KWIK?? I'm not sure that I can get it in this area - but if it sounds like something that would simplify my old horse's feeding program, I would give it a try.

1Sally

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 26, 2001 - 7:14 pm:

Sally: I don't know where you live, but it's made by Nutrena. Run a search on Nutrena and go to their main site. On the site map pull down menu, hit horses. On the left hand side, look for Equine Products where you'll find Kwik. It is a complete feed in pelleted form. I never had much luck with Nutrena before and only tried this when I was desperate with my old toothless horse and someone gave me a bag to try. I wet it with warm water, and it turned mushy. My old boy was tickled pink and we never had another problem.
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