If hay gets wet, will it dry out and be okay or does it have to be thrown out?

Question

We have had a tropical storm and two of my bales got wet on the bottom. The rest are just damp. Will the wet hay or damp hay mold or will it dry out and be okay. How long does it take to mold if it does?

Answer 1

if it gets wet it will mold so you should throw it out

Answer 2

it can mold if it's jsut been sitting there for a while. i don't think it will dry out. it's ok to feed immediately, it's just like grazing wet grass. and more than often people soak hay before feeding to keep the hay dust down.  

Answer 3

the hay that just got damp will mold on the inside between the squares/layers, and if you open one even when its dry on the outside, you will feel how hot it is on the inside. When the bales got wet, the mold produces/grows, and the heat slowly rise and get hotter. This could very well start a fire. This is why farmers and people who store ALOT of hay will not put wet bales in the barn, as it isn't safe due to the risk of fire. So if you have a lot of bales that got wet, I would give them to cattle as soon as possible if that is an option, but I wouldn't give them to a horse or some such picky eater. And I definitely wouldn't store them!

Answer 4

They can dry out, but they will mold if they don't dry quick enough.  Break apart the bales and spread them out to dry.  

Answer 5

You have to throw it out, or find a farmer with cattle to eat it.  It will mold, and horses can't eat it.  Cows can eat moldy hay, since they have 4 stomachs to handle such things.

Add...it takes a few hours, not days, for mold to develop.  You cannot safely dry this hay and use it.

Answer 6

Baled hay, if allowed to get wet will immediately begin to mold.  In large quantities, wet baled hay can cause fires as the moisture must evaporate - in the evaporation process, compacted wet material = combustible material.

Hay that's molded will become dusty.  The dust will endanger the horse's respiratory system - perhaps permanently.  A horse gets a condition called "heaves' that's akin to a human combination of Bronchitis and Pheumonia - and they never completely recover from it - this is typically the case with a horse that's been in a dusty environment.

If there's only one or two bales that you can pull apart immediately after they've gotten wet and even feed while they're still damp but not warm, it won't hurt them, but if they've become warm or devloped dustiness at all, they are best left un used.

I've had some bales get wet on bottom just slightly that I can pull off the wet stuff before it soaks into the rest and begins the molding process.  Smell it before feeding it, if it makes you wrinkle your nose, don't feed it - get fresh.

Molding begins within hours of getting wet.

Answer 7

It would be better to just get rid of the wet/damp hay then to take a chance your horse gets sick - or dies.  Mold is one of the most toxic things to horses.  Throwing out a few bales is alot cheaper than vet bills.  

Answer 8

I would throw it out. It's probably going to mold anyways. So just go buy some new hay!

Answer 9

Do you live in a humid region? If so, they'll mold within 24 hrs. If you live in, say, Arizona, they'll dry and be good to feed for several days.

Answer 10

I recently had the same problem. The guy I get my hay from delivered it 3 days early and just left it in the alley near the gate. There was a storm about 6 hours later and the rain came in over the gate and soaked the bales.

I'm lucky to have a stable that has a long continuous loft over the stalls with a half wall between each section so each stall has its own loft. I have 3 stalls and my cousin has 3 stalls. We put 4 bales in each available loft (one loft is for tack and feed only).  Broke each bale and spread it out for drying. As this is the Deep South, the hay was dry late the next day (100 F weather).  We then just swept it to the side and have been using it ever since. Since we buy hay for 2 weeks at a time right now, we are about out.

By the way we did decide to change suppliers since he was told what day to deliver and changed without notice. This was what caused the problem in the first place since he was supposed to deliver on a Saturday (when we could be there) and instead delivered on a Thursday when we were at work.

Answer 11

okay, you CAN dry it out, but only if you are quick, and have a BUNCH of dry space to do it in...  you'll have to break apart the bales, fluff out the hay with a fork until there are no lumps in it any more... then spread out it thinly in a warm and sunny place for a few hours (just like the farmer does) and then after a few hours, turn it all over and spread it out again... As long as it doesn't rain on the drying hay, you should have it all dried out in a day or so.. (you can do it in a large dry barn also, but it's likely to take much longer)

then rake up the now dry hay and store it in the barn.. you should be okay...

However, if the hay has been wet and compressed (in the bale) for more than about 2 days, it's likely to have started rotting or growing mold.. in that case, I suggest you compost the hay which will eventually rot, and provide good fibrous fertilizer for your garden next year.

Oh, and it's the same for the damp bales as well as the wet ones, ANY moisture could lead to mold or rot, so I'd get them all dried out of possible... And quickly :)

Hope that helps :)

Answer 12

It will mold.  It would be less trouble to go out and buy new hay than it would to try and dry it out...in fact, you would need special conditions (and a ton of room!) to properly dry out wet hay.  I would toss whatever got wet, even if it hasn't molded yet.  Better safe than sorry.

Answer 13

it will get moldy.

Answer 14

Throw it out!!! As any horse owner knows horses can't eat any moldy hay

Answer 15

It's going to mold, and it won't be long. You can feed wet hay, but only for a few hours after it's gotten wet. After that, there's most likely mold in it, so throw it out. Better to lose 2 bales than to make your horses sick.

Answer 16

If you keep it outdoors and there are worms they might start to live there  and it will go moldy.

Answer 17

Throw it out.  You do not even want 2 chance a horse getting colic from moldy hay.

xxoo bunnie and mandy

best friends forever

Answer 18

I live in N. Georgia and I had 2 bales get wet. It takes less than 24 hours for a bale of hay to mold here. I just threw it away after it got wet...for me, there was no point trying to spread it out. In South Dakota though...shoot...I had tarps over my hay, no barn.