I realized this afternoon that my son put some hay in the goat's feeder that looked a bit off. I asked him where he got it from, and he walked me to the stack of hay bales. The hay he gave them was moldy! I ran back to the goats and took whatever was left in the feeder out, but they already ate most of it! I'm really worried.... Are they going to be OK?
mouldy hay can cause abortions and neurological issues. it can give stomach upsets and recently I have had some guinea pigs die, post mortem results showed it was from mould on the hay, they just lost their appetite, got lethargic, and eventually were drooling and died. having said all of that, lots of people feed mouldy hay ( "cow" or "goat" quality hay) to their animals all the time without problems, so I reckon yours will be ok with it happening just the one time
Oh no...that is awful.... Make sure.. they have good.. non moldy hay for them to eat...with fresh water.... I would give a fortified vit B complex shot....to prevent thiamine deficiency and keep polio away.... Give baking soda.. give probiotic paste give Milk of Magnesia give every 6 to 8 hours for a while... watch for scours .. You can give activated Charcoal if you want to...to be on the safe side...or if they start acting sicker.... it is up to you.... glad you removed the bad hay right away... ray:
Mold can cause a goat to bloat. Baking soda will help prevent bloat. If they look bloaty you can make balls of baking soda by adding some water and feeding it to the goats.
Pam really covered it. :thumb: Hopefully you can get them started on stuff now and they'll be ok. I've had it happen before and mine were alright...but just take steps now to be safe.
How much hay did they get? If they were eating a lot yes Pam hit it all. Watch for them to act off, start star gazing and circling.
We had a bale earlier this year that was somewhat moldy and when my husband fed late one evening he didn't realize he grabbed from that bale <I was taking the mold out and using the bale as bedding>. Next day one of our pregnant does was doing a lot of stretching, and really uncomfortable, and acting off, I remember her temp was low as well and she was shivering. I gave her a shot of thaimine, probios and put a sweatshirt on her and gave her good hay, and she bounced back within a few hours. Scared the life out of me, but at first I didn't know what it was until I saw the hay she had left and that someone had taken some from the bad bale. Sadly, accidents happen. Hopefully your goats will be just fine
Just watch them and try not to freak out too bad. When I first got goats I had the whole 'goats eat everything' idea and they were fed moldy hay. Nothing ever came of it but I did stop that when I found out they can not have it.
Phew, nothing to report on the moldy hay, The girls all seem to be fine.... But had something else traumatic happen when we were taking our birds to the fair today. I am heart-broken.... (Made a separate post about it in the "rainbow bridge" section in case anyone is curious....)
I know this is late, I was just reading some old threads. I raise my Goats and Sheep all natural, no vaccinations, no shots, no wormer, no chemicals. At first I had a few problems but Goats are strong. We have bred any strength that there was out of them. My goats eat moldy hay from time to time, I buy round bales when I am not around to feed them. Sometimes they bloat, but most of the time now they don't. I've never lost one. I raise all natural, drug free kosher meats, I use them for milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, soap and meat and my animals are all fat, fleshy and healthy. I am not saying you will never loose one this way, but when I started I planned on loosing some. Only the strong survive and by doing so, only the strong will breed. I have milking goats that are just as fat and muscled as my boer's. The African Boer goat can eat plastic bags and beer bottles and get along just fine; the American Boer goat needs her nails done before she faints. think about it, we cause are own problems. The need of vaccinations and medications is created by the need for vaccinations and medications. It works for me. I'm just saying just because your goat spent 15 minutes in a moldy bale she probably won't eat, is no reason to panic and buy $200 of vet supplies.
I mean no disrespect to anyone, just noticed there was only one sided answers. All of the answers I read are accurate and they will help, but they don't cure the problem, they take care of it.
