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[kckc]

I know I saw a post about horses sick and one of the things mentioned was possibly botulism.... it came up in another post and it was commented that there is a vaccine for horses

http://animalsafety.neogen.com/en/neogenvet-botvax-b?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5aTUBRC2ARIsAPoPJk-rVv98ieiU1GNC4ToHlEo86zC0-8Y47wdKSADhC_sOfd71RD2EwdEaAuHWEALw_wcB

[meely3]

Over here they vaccinate for botulism if you feed round bales. Most of us feed small squares so we don't, but when I boarded at a place that fed the large squares I did just in case.

[Walkin45]

That's right. I've vac mine and they are due , isn't it yearly ?

[luvmysmh]

Yes, botulism is done yearly.  I always have mine done.  Botulism can be deadly and is very expensive to treat.  I figure the vaccine is cheap insurance.  Where I am now, they feed large bales so it's pretty much a necessity anyway.  But i still used to give it to him even when I was at farms that didn't use the large bales.

[kckc]

any side effects?   and I was reading that you give 3 shots initially (monthly?) then go to once a year?  my old horses don't get hay at all but I have 3 others on hay, round bales.  I roll some of them out on the ground but others I do not.  So... now I worry about this ...

[luvmysmh]

Yes, I believe the initial is 3 shots at a monthly interval.  It's been so long for me but I believe that is correct.  I have not seen side effects in my horses but I don't know about possible side effects overall.

[meely3]

I thought I remembered 2 shots a month apart, then yearly after. I don't believe that rolling the bale out makes any difference. I might not be remembering right but if I am it has to do with how much air is getting into the bale as it cures, and round bales don't get enough because of their size.  I remember recently a woman was running a "rescue" locally and 2 horses died. It was supposed to be from botulism from a round bale but I'm not sure it that is true or not. Because horses died the another "rescue" came in and seized all her animals and said that it wasn't botulism, they starved to death. There was a picture of a couple of healthy enough looking horses munching on a round bale, but it was considered abuse because they were standing in mud so I tend to believe it was botulism. 

[kckc]

I thought in hay it had to come from a dead, dying animal???

[kckc]

well I was super wrong....and unless its been updated the shots don't protect all forms       www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/info_botulism.htm