Dear Friends:

 I have never had this problem before.  I bought about 12 bags of sweet feed about a month and a half ago.  I opened one of the bags today and it has weevils in it!  Can anyone tell me:

1.  Did the weevils likely come IN the bag from the feed store or did they come from my place?

2.  Will it hurt my mare to eat feed with weevils in it?

3.  How do I keep this from happening again !!!

Thanks,

janet
 

I've never heard of a weevil before so I did some googling.

For #1: it is possible that they came in the bag.

#2: I haven't found an answer yet, someone else may have one though.

#3: The weevils can be stopped with garlic(?).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_weevil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weevil

As I'm very curious about this, I'm going to try to do some more digging into wheat weevils. I hope that this helps somewhat!

Take the feed back and ask for replacements. I am best buddies with my feed store owner; these things happen every now and then. She is always quick to take the bags back and then places a call to her supplier who credits her account.

How not to make it happen again? Well, I suspect they came from the mill that way so it isn't really something you did. However, I don't by more feed than can fit in the sealable barrels I store my feed in.

 Thank you for your reply.  I will take a sample and try the garlic!  Do you think it's okay for Maiya to eat garlic?  I'm assuming it might even be beneficial (antibiotic) [and I can quit worrying about vampires :-)  ].

jt

 Thanks.  I will call my feed supplier tomorrow.  I'm friends with them so it probably won't be a problem.

Janet A. Thomas:

 Thank you for your reply.  I will take a sample and try the garlic!  Do you think it's okay for Maiya to eat garlic?  I'm assuming it might even be beneficial (antibiotic) [and I can quit worrying about vampires :-)  ].

jt

Garlic is perfectly safe for Maiya to have as long as it is a small amount. U of Guelph did a study on garlic + horses using freeze dried garlic. At 1 cup they became anemic! So keep the amount small.

Also it is a natural pest repelent that can be used in the summer months, however it takes a few weeks to build up in the blood supply. Just remember not all horses like garlic!

I have links to articles in relation to garlic used as insect repelent, as well as suppliers. If your interest, let me know and I'll PM you with some of the links (they are scattered over many files in my favorites).

I dealt with this recently.

do not feed the feed to your horses.

The problem is, weevils are attracted to feed, so being the bags sat in your barn for a month and a half, and depending on how anal your feed suppiler is, they may say that the weevils came from YOUR barn.

I always clean up an excess feed dropped and use feed ASAP after purchasing it. the feed I got with weevils in it I had just bought that day, but it had sat at the feed store for abit, so Im thi8nking thats where they came from.

I also will not buy feed that has been sitting at the dealers for awhile, particulary sweet feed(the weevils seem to like it more)

Not a fun thing to deal with.