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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
    
| Alfalfa contaminated with blister beetles contributed to the deaths of 6 horses in NC. The came go a feed store from Kansas. I can't seem to cut and paste on my tablet, but this was just on Facebook. Most of us around here quit feeding alfalfa years ago because of this. I think alfalfa that comes from Colorado and that area is OK but I thought if it came from Kansas it was OK too. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| I thought it all depended on whether the grower sprays for them or not. Which is why I won't feed it. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I feed the cubes for this reason. The Omni cubes and Mustang Sally cubes use alfalfa they grow out of Idaho, I think. Has anyone heard of horses being poisoned by blister beetles that were fed cubes? |
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 Party Girl
Posts: 12293
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | If your alfalfa comes from an area where there is high moisture ( humidity) I would be checking every square inch of that bale.
Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and so forth are you best places to get alfalfa. |
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | GLP - 2015-09-17 6:38 AM I feed the cubes for this reason. The Omni cubes and Mustang Sally cubes use alfalfa they grow out of Idaho, I think. Has anyone heard of horses being poisoned by blister beetles that were fed cubes?
Alfalfa that is used in Omnis Complete Performance Cubes comes out of Canada. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | Did it list what feed store? |
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 Barrel Horse World News
Posts: 64
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http://bladenjournal.com/news/1522/ncdacs-stops-sale-of-alfalfa-hay-potentially-adulterated-with-blister-beetles
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| We are in SW Kansas and grow alfalfa. I have never seen a blister beetle, and have never heard anyone in the area mention them as being around. However, we are very dry in our part of the state. There is a lot of alfalfa grown in our area.
Not sure if this is accurate, but it seems like I heard the hay came from eastern Kansas. Again, I don't know if they typically have blister beetles, but that part of the state is much more humid and tends to get more moisture than we do. The only reason we're able to grow a crop is because we use center pivot irrigation!
Edited to add - Just read the article and think I must have confused the location. There is a Louisburg in eastern Kansas, but I think they referring to the town in NC where the hay was sold.
Edited by Jenbabe 2015-09-17 9:19 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | I was making a visit to a cutting horse barn in LA in the late 1990's. They lost nine customer horses that morning to blister beetle that was in the alfalfa based feed concentrate they fed that was made in Texas. It was one of the most awful things I have ever seen. Their feed rep told them that the process of making the feed neutralized any blister beetle that might be in the Texas grown alfalfa that they used to make the product. That, of course, is not true. This was in feed from one of the biggest feed companies in the world, not hay cubes or pellets. If you use a feed that has an alfalfa meal inclusion, you need to know where that alfalfa came from. I am an alfalfa fan, but never did understand paying for it in concentrates. If you use these feeds with alfalfa fillers in them you need to be careful about its source.
Edited by winwillows 2015-09-17 6:02 PM
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| hoofs_in_motion - 2015-09-17 8:53 AM
Did it list what feed store?
Yes but I cannot get on facebook to find it. At work, at school. Facebook blocked |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | Eastern KS and OK have infestations from time to time of blister beetles. So do any of the SE states, LA, TX, AL, MS, GA, FL. I would never feed from those states. But that is me and my opinion.
We used to have a saying never feed alfalfa from any state or place east of the Rockies - I still hold true to that statement - unless it comes from Canada or AZ, NM.
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Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | http://www.ratemyhorsepro.com/news/blister-beetles-in-alfalfa-blamed-for-deaths-of-4-north-carolina-horses.aspx |
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 Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
Location: NC | Jenbabe - 2015-09-17 9:14 AM
We are in SW Kansas and grow alfalfa. I have never seen a blister beetle, and have never heard anyone in the area mention them as being around. However, we are very dry in our part of the state. There is a lot of alfalfa grown in our area.
Not sure if this is accurate, but it seems like I heard the hay came from eastern Kansas. Again, I don't know if they typically have blister beetles, but that part of the state is much more humid and tends to get more moisture than we do. The only reason we're able to grow a crop is because we use center pivot irrigation!
Edited to add - Just read the article and think I must have confused the location. There is a Louisburg in eastern Kansas, but I think they referring to the town in NC where the hay was sold.
Some of the horses died in Louisburg, NC and one of the main feed supply store that the hay was bought from is in Louisburg, NC. BUT the hay was grown in KS and shipped to the store in Louisburg, NC. Hope this helps clear up the confusion.
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Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | streakysox - 2015-09-17 10:35 AM hoofs_in_motion - 2015-09-17 8:53 AM Did it list what feed store? Yes but I cannot get on facebook to find it. At work, at school. Facebook blocked
mine is blocked as well. Do you know what facebook page? I can search it on my tablet. |
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| You need to remember that blister beetles dine on grasshoppers not the grass. |
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I Am a Snake Killer
Posts: 1927
Location: Golden Gulf Coast of Texas | Even if you check every square inch you can still miss a piece of the insects body. It doesn't have to be intact to make your horse sick. Colonel Freckles died of blister beetle poisoning and that hay also came from Kansas. Ive also heard of horses getting blister beetle poisoning from alfalfa pellets. |
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 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | This has always been my hesitation with feeding alfalfa.
I feel terrible for their loss.  |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| winwillows - 2015-09-17 9:56 AM
I was making a visit to a cutting horse barn in LA in the late 1990's. They lost nine customer horses that morning to blister beetle that was in the alfalfa based feed concentrate they fed that was made in Texas. It was one of the most awful things I have ever seen. Their feed rep told them that the process of making the feed neutralized any blister beetle that might be in the Texas grown alfalfa that they used to make the product. That, of course, is not true. This was in feed from one of the biggest feed companies in the world, not hay cubes or pellets. If you use a feed that has an alfalfa meal inclusion, you need to know where that alfalfa came from. I am an alfalfa fan, but never did understand paying for it in concentrates. I you use these feeds with alfalfa fillers in them you need to be careful about its source.
I can't even FATHOM how awful that must have been. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| So sad, prayers |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| The name of the feed store was Murphy Hay farm in Louisburg, NC. They sold a portion of a load to another feed dealer Jones Farm Hay and Feed in Middlesex, NC.
They get truck loads of hay from all over the US, but most of their alfalfa has always come from Kansas. They have been selling this hay for over 30 years and this is the first issue they've had. The Ag dept here has issued a stop sale on that hay and Murphy's had already posted publicly that anyone that wanted to return their hay would be given a refund and that anyone who bought that hay should check it.
Murphy's has been selling hay to a large portion of central NC/South VA for a long time and they are a great business and are handling this very professionally, IMO. |
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