I think by now most of us have heard of Round-Up, and its detrimental nature to human and animal health. It's proper name, often disguised in other producsts, is Glyphosate. It is applied in a variety of forms including isopropylamine salt, ammonium salt, diammonium salt, dimethylammonium salt, and potassium salt. Guidelines for use are often not followed, either in time frame or quantity, due to the resistance in plants/weeds that has increased since its over-abundance of use, and the desire that is quite understandable in farmers to get their hay dried off as fast as possible.
It's extremely worrying that states such as North Dakota and Georgia are amending laws to provide a shield for pharmaceutical manufacturers who produce this stuff and all their other concoctions, that protects them from lawsuits by those harmed by the herbicides and pesticides they manufacture. Find more on that topic on Facebook reel here. This means ever more products will hit our food chain, and these products' fallible nature will not be the responsibility to any real degree of the pharma giants producing them. It's not just our horses that are affected, it's us!
Most horse owners are also much aware that the Glyphosate product is undetectable in hay bales, that its use is almost always involved at some stage of round or large hay bale production, and products sold as hay cubes and other extenders clearly state the preservative's inclusion in the products. Including just about everything companies like Tractor Supply retail as horse products.
Herbicides and preservatives may be sprayed on crops at any time. While cutting, while drying, while baling, or between crop harvests. While there are theoretically 'buffered' versions of the product available to help mitigate the risk of health concerns in the horse such gastrointestinal issues like ulcers, hemhorrage, skin irritation in the mouth, colitis or mucosal damage, when ingested on feed and forage, these are more expensive options and so their use is sometimes overlooked by farmers.
Aside from the carcinogenic risks of the use of Glyphosates, the endocrine system is also at risk. And there are many studies out there and lawsuits that have validated that reality succinctly enough for huge awards to be given to those negatively affected by the use of these products.
As a hay farmer and horse breeder, I realized long ago that my youngstocks' potential for longevity and good health, performance and ability to reach their potential, was deeply affected by having their noses stuck in hay for much of the day and the realization that what was inside that hay plant or grass as well as what was sprayed on it really mattered. Upper respiratory inflammations along with the myriad of other diseases can stem from poorly produced hay. But that includes hay that is moldy/dusty or allergen laden.
Properly curing hay utilizing the power of the sun's rays and summer winds of Mother Nature, takes more labor and machine time, more fuel and more effort. Losses due to rain, equipment breakdowns or labor to harvest the hay can and does happen. But as my friend Jeremy Clarkson, the unlikely farmers' advocate would say, "That's farming."
At our farm at Willowview Hill Farm we opted to take our farmlands organic back in 1998, and have kept all our production the same organic production and harvest ever since. Our bales are the labor intensive small squares, and delivering them to our customers is something we take great pride in doing. Knowing the product is good and as safe as it can be. We utilize organic manure for fertilization that is recycling this same hay. Farmers love our hay for its clean nature. Whether it's to feed a milking herd of goats or finishing off their beef or drying off dairy cows, or like us breeding top performance horses commercially like dressage stock or whatever, hay is such a key component in an animals' natural diet its innate qualities and need for a good healthy source of nutrients cannot be ignored.
Knowing your hay's provenance and understanding that organic hay may cost a bit more due to the higher nature of losses and lesser yield that may be produced with an organic crop, is use is critical to helping solve the rise in cancers and the myriad of gastric/metabolic/endocrine/respiratory and other issues we see hit our animals and more importantly, our families, everyday.
These new shield laws protect Big Pharma and keep their shareholders happy, but that is the only group it protects. Farmers aren't protected because they'll still get sick or die from their need to use the more questionable products manufactured. Many long terms effects are not known at time of initial marketing of these chemical additives hitting the market. Pharmaceutical companies won't much care because their profits have already been assured and can remain untouched regardless of the loss or suffering they cause longer term.
The best thing we can do is keep on doing our best to keep the food chain free of contaminants and support those that go the extra mile to achieve that goal. Wherever that opportunity exists.
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