Soaking Hay Can Lower Dust Concentrations

For horses that are sensitive to inhaled irritants, eating hay can be a problem. Even the cleanest, highest-quality hay is likely to contain a moderate amount of fine material.
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For horses that are sensitive to inhaled irritants, eating hay can be a problem. Even the cleanest, highest-quality hay is likely to contain a moderate amount of fine material. When a horse plunges his head into a pile of hay or pulls mouthfuls out of a haynet, he inhales countless small particles of dust, mold spores, and fibrous plant material. Collectively known as the respirable dust concentration (RDC) these fine particles can cause severe airway irritation in sensitive horses. Heaves, broken wind, and recurrent airway obstruction are terms for the condition that can manifest as mild coughing or severe bronchial spasms that preclude any sort of training or exercise.

Management steps–wetting or soaking hay, selecting alternative bedding materials, and removing horses from stalls during periods of peak stall and barn cleaning activity–have been taken to determine how to minimize RDC impact. A study conducted at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland examined the effect of soaking hay on RDC in the horse's breathing zone–a two foot sphere around the end of his nose. The study was designed to determine the usefulness of brief hay immersion as opposed to longer soaking periods and to investigate how management of one stall influences the RDC in a neighboring stall.

The hay-soaking trial involved three hay treatments: dry hay, hay immersed in a bucket of water and then fed immediately, and hay immersed for 16 hours prior to feeding. For each treatment, a haynet with 5 kg of hay was placed in the same location in the stall. Wood shavings were used for bedding. The stall was prepared an hour before the horse (a 15-year-old mare familiar with the site and the sampling equipment) was brought in. The haynet was placed in the stall ten minutes later, and RDC monitoring began 10 minutes after the hay was presented. For each treatment, mean and maximum RDC readings were recorded in the horse's breathing zone during a two-hour sampling period. Six repetitions were performed for each protocol.

There was a significant difference in RDC readings in the horse's breathing zone for the three treatments. Compared to feeding of dry hay, feeding of immersed hay resulted in a 60% reduction in mean RDC, and feeding of soaked hay resulted in a 71% reduction. Maximum RDC readings showed that feeding immersed hay resulted in a 53% reduction compared with dry hay, while feeding soaked hay resulted in a 34% reduction

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