My gelding has some resp. issues and the vet recommended thoroughly wetting his hay down before feeding. It's been helping (yay!) but something weird has started to happen. I've been drenching his meals in a bucket then lifting out, hanging (I do this and feed using a slow-feed haynet) and rinsing off any last bits of debris before giving it a minute to drip out the extra, then hanging it in his stall for him to munch. Usually the water in the bucket isn't noticeably a different color when I pull the hay out, but the last week or so the water has been turning a dark reddish/brown color. No new smells, the hay or the water, and BO says she's been buying from the same place as she always has. Obviously they could have a new field supplier, the company doesn't grow their own and (last I checked) haul hay over from the east over the pass and into western Washington. But my question ultimately is this: Should the water be brown? wtf! This has never happened. Should I be worried? Is this normal? If this IS normal, why hasn't this happened before? Is the hay richer now and I'm assuming the worst about nothing? Or should I talk to the supplier and see whats up?
EDIT: I have tried letting the water sit for 30 minutes, and no dirt settles to the bottom. That was my obvious first idea: that the hay was just dirty. But when nothing settled, it was clearly something else.
Photos of the water after hay was in the bucket maybe 5 or 10 minutes. (I'm not soaking to reduce WSC, just to thoroughly drench any dust/particles so as Dewey eats he's not disturbing and inhaling them)
EDIT: I have tried letting the water sit for 30 minutes, and no dirt settles to the bottom. That was my obvious first idea: that the hay was just dirty. But when nothing settled, it was clearly something else.
Photos of the water after hay was in the bucket maybe 5 or 10 minutes. (I'm not soaking to reduce WSC, just to thoroughly drench any dust/particles so as Dewey eats he's not disturbing and inhaling them)