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Beware imported Alfalfa hay

that really is awful!


i'm glad i grow my own grass from seed - i'm about to try my hand at making my own hay from timothy this year
 
:wave: Before everyone goes binning their expensive US imported hay, is there confirmation that these beetles have been found in the brands mentioned?

I'd be very mindful of slagging off US companies without proof knowing that it is a society that loves its lawsuits.
 
I didn't know this about blister beetles liking alfalfa. I have an open bag of alfalfa hay from the US, and have stopped feeding it after Sunnie started to feel unwell after eating a small amount of it. I don't know if it was the alfalfa that caused it, or whether it was a coincidence.
 
luvabun said:
Why? I'm still waiting for the OP to confirm that these beetles have been found in the brands mentioned.
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Absolutely with you on this Luvabun, this is scaremongering from where I am standing and RosL, I am wondering from what standpoint you are posting? Have you had experience with horses/rabbits and that is why you are concerned? Have you had any updates about cases in the UK?

This is a bit like us all stopping buying beansprouts from the EU, because of Ecoli in a few cases in Germany.

Good quality US based hays being exported do go through a temperature treatment to kill off any nasties prior to export (phytosanitisation), so they could be seen as being 'safer' than some straight off the field UK hays which generally undergo no such treatment, and time from field to hay rack could be quite small so the chance of a nastie still being alive is quite high.

Owners should just be vigilant with what they are feeding - from shaking hays to washing veg.

I'd also point out that (before you all go throw all their hay away and potentially cause gut issues with their rabbits), the two hays mentioned have been sold in the UK for many years; no issue has ever been reported.

And does anyone know if the beetle in question causes the same response in rabbits? All I can find are reports of excess volume injections of drug causing heart issues in lab rabbits and a report stating that the rabbit seems to have a congenital tolerance for cantharidin, so there seems to be a mixed opinion out there.

In any event Alfalfa hay shouldn't be fed freely as it is higher than all other hays in calcium.
 
In any event Alfalfa hay shouldn't be fed freely as it is higher than all other hays in calcium.
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I was thinking this. The way I read it was that the bettles were attracted to the Alfalfa flower so theoretically shouldn't effect the more commonly used hays in the american ranges.
 
And it's probably worth mentioning at this point that Alfalfa King is a brand doing many hays, and the report is concerned with Alfalfa type hay which many people grow.
 
and where do you draw the line? Science Selective pellets contain Alfalfa therefore couldn't they be affected as well?
Alfalfa is also known as Lucerne and it's in Excel pellets as well.

So based on this article, are we supposed to stop serving the two most popular rabbit pellets and premium US produced hays?

Good analogy with the E Coli outbreak :) Demonstrates the point perfectly how something based on a supposition can get totally out of hand.
 
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I think you are more likely to get problems with damp meadow hay and mould than with the well dried imported hays. The alfalfa hay I have, doesn't seem to have flowers in it. I am sure some of the normal meadow and herbal hays have the odd toxic plant or insect in it, too. No need to panic.
 
Bavarian Bunny said:
I think you are more likely to get problems with damp meadow hay and mould than with the well dried imported hays. The alfalfa hay I have, doesn't seem to have flowers in it. I am sure some of the normal meadow and herbal hays have the odd toxic plant or insect in it, too. No need to panic.
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Now you've made me panic... I've got a lot of imported German (JR) hay that has a lot of flower heads in it..... should I be wary of that?
 
luvabun said:
Now you've made me panic... I've got a lot of imported German (JR) hay that has a lot of flower heads in it..... should I be wary of that?
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No, I've been feeding all sorts of hay for years, and never had any problems. I don't know if Sunnie got unwell from the alfalfa hay, which I had got for some young fosters and which is probably past its best before date now. The few times my bunnies had problems, it was either stormy weather with a quick change in air pressure, or they had eaten curly kale or, in one case, broccoli.
 
Bavarian Bunny said:
No, I've been feeding all sorts of hay for years, and never had any problems. I don't know if Sunnie got unwell from the alfalfa hay, which I had got for some young fosters and which is probably past its best before date now. The few times my bunnies had problems, it was either stormy weather with a quick change in air pressure, or they had eaten curly kale or, in one case, broccoli.
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Funny you should say that Gisela but I really do think that the changeable weather is makeing our buns a bit 'off' and I've had one in stasis for no decernable reason. Plus other people I know who've also had minor episodes of stasis that couldn't be attributed to fluff in the gut or other blockages or changes in diet/environment.
 
Bavarian Bunny said:
No, I've been feeding all sorts of hay for years, and never had any problems. I don't know if Sunnie got unwell from the alfalfa hay, which I had got for some young fosters and which is probably past its best before date now. The few times my bunnies had problems, it was either stormy weather with a quick change in air pressure, or they had eaten curly kale or, in one case, broccoli.
Click to expand...

So the probability of Sunnies illness is the fact that the hay was past its best before date rather than the type of hay itself or another unknown factor?

So that can be erased than as an example of the problems this hay has caused in rabbits.... which brings the documented cases to nil.
 
I don't suppose there would be many people who would even worry Jill as it's not fed as a main hay (or shouldn't be).

I think the difference here is that horses (referring to ROSL's original post) can be fed alfalfa freely, whereas bunnies aren't.

I wonder if there is anything on the internet that says about rabbits suffering in the States if this has come from there..............goes off to look.
 
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luvabun said:
So the probability of Sunnies illness is the fact that the hay was past its best before date rather than the type of hay itself or another unknown factor?

So that can be erased than as an example of the problems this hay has caused in rabbits.... which brings the documented cases to nil.
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Yes, as I said, it may have been a coincidence. I don't feed my bunnies too many different things as treats, and the only unusual thing Sunnie had eaten that afternoon, was the alfalfa hay. The only other time she got ill, was right after a myxo vaccination. It's very difficult to say why bunnies go off their food sometimes. But I trust hay and herbs from my own garden most, and keep bought vegetables to a minimum.
 
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