It feels like summer is here to stay and many paddocks are looking rather bare. If you are in the market for some horse hay then you need to know how to identify the good stuff. Here are a few tips:

Assess appearance & texture

Good hay is full of leaf matter. If the hay is full of stalks and mature seed heads it has been harvested too late - it will be unpalatable and low in nutritional value. You must also check that it is free of weeds like thistle, Patterson’s curse and heliotrope. Good leafy hay should be easy to touch and the stems should be flexible - if it feels coarse and rough your horse will probably think the same!

Colour

Assess colour from the inside of the bale by digging into it as far as you can, or looking at bales already pulled apart. The outside will often be sun-bleached and won't give a good indicator of what lies beneath. Quality hay is pale green to pale gold.

Mould

Hay needs to be baled when the moisture content is 15-17%. If the moisture level is too high or the hay is wet when baled, it will grow mould. If baled when very wet, the bacteria in the hay will ferment and heat the bales to the point they can combust. Mould is unpalatable at best and toxic at worst. 

Smell

Your nose isn't painted on - so use it! The sweet smell of good hay is something most of us learn to appreciate. If the smell is musty, sharp or even metallic it's probably due to mould. If you happen to take in a lung full of dust while you're sniffing the hay, so will your horse, so avoid it. 

Price

There are plenty of sources to help you investigate prices. Websites like Feedcentral and HayTrade give the going market rates, and Dairy Australia also has weekly updates on the hay and grain market.

Every year many flocks are infected with M.ovis. Typically the disease presents in young sheep, in poorer body condition, with a number of deaths and a real tail on the mob when being moved. Losses of up to 30% in some mobs have been seen.

When examined, the sheep are anaemic, in some cases jaundiced, and often in poor body condition. Many have been marked, mulesed or shorn within the previous two months, and the majority of sheep are merinos.

Eperythrozoonosis is a disease that is spread mechanically between animals by the transfer of infected red blood cells. Carrier animals can be a source of infection as not all infected sheep show signs of disease. These animals may relapse when stressed or just suffer from recurrent bouts of low grade anaemia. A reservoir of infection is probably maintained in breeding ewes. As a result, some properties have recurring bouts of the disease each year after mulesing or marking. The disease progresses over 4-6 weeks until immunity develops within the mob and overt signs of anaemia and death diminish. 

Treatment with oxytetracyclines can be effective in controlling the disease but management practices need to be introduced to reduce the chance of recurrence. These include:

• Ensure good hygiene at marking, mulesing and shearing
• Control biting insects like flies and mosquitoes
• Ensure sheep are in good condition before and after marking, mulesing and shearing
• Minimise the need to move or handle sheep within 6 weeks of marking, mulesing and shearing

M.ovis infection or eperythrozoonosis, can be controlled and minimised in a flock but never really eliminated. The possible role of carriers and vectors and the need for strict hygiene make it an ever-present and ubiquitous disease.