How the Haygain Steamer helps to prevent bacterial infections in your horse, limiting the need for antibiotics.

Prevention is better than cure – how the Haygain Steamer helps to prevent bacterial infections in your horse, limiting the need for antibiotics.

News reports often state how the overuse of antibiotics is making infections harder and leading to thousands of deaths a year through drug-resistant superbugs. This problem does not just exist in human medicine, as Dr Emmanuelle Van Erck-Westergren DVM, PhD, ECEIM explains.

Using the Haygain Steamer can help to combat respiratory and digestive bacterial infections in horses and thus help limit the use of antibiotics in horses. Prevention is always better than cure, so ensuring your horse doesn’t suffer from the side effects of a bacterial infection will keep them healthy and happy, and there’s another important reason why preventing the occurrence of a bacterial infection in the first incidence is more important than ever.

There is an increased focus on the overuse of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections in humans, and how this has led to drug-resistant superbugs. There are already thousands of deaths a year from superbugs and the worst-case scenario predicted by clinicians is that compound fractures and deep cuts could again become life threatening injuries if we continue to use antibiotics in such a casual manner. Doctors are no longer prescribing antibiotics for ailments that will likely go away just as quickly without them and patients are being educated as to why they don’t need antibiotics for every small infection.

Every sector is working hard to ensure antibiotics are not used unnecessarily. Farmers are looking at ways to prevent infections occurring in livestock in the first instance, rather than relying on antibiotics to treat infections after they occur, but of course they must strike the delicate balance between animal welfare and antibiotic usage.

So, how can horse owners help play their part in ensuring antibiotics are not overused? Respiratory infections are a common issue in the stabled equine, thanks to the high levels of respirable particles that are present. It simply isn’t possible in many yards to turn horses out 24/7, yet stored forage and bedding is often dusty. This dust contains bacteria, fungal spores and mould and breathing and ingesting these particles can lead to respiratory or digestive issues, including bacterial infections.

The Haygain Hay Steamer has been conclusively in scientific trials to eliminate bacteria, fungal spores and mould found in hay. The steamers have been carefully designed to ensure the hay is heated to temperatures that ensure the hygiene quality of the hay is improved and the hay remains highly palatable. Using the Haygain Hay Steamer will ensure that you ensure the forage your horse eats isn’t causing bacterial infections, thus eliminating any need to give them antibiotics to help make them better.

Horse health company Haygain focus on the mantra that prevention is better than cure. By using their innovative Hay Steamers you’ll be helping to ensure your horse has a healthy respiratory system and that future generations can access effective antibiotics when they really need them. No lost days of training, no need to be quarantined from their friends and no discomfort for the horse fighting an infection off – better all round!

Explore the Haygain Hay Steamer range here: https://haygain.co.uk/collections/equine-hay-steamers and find out more about the range of benefits of using this innovative product as a part of your stable management routine.

With thanks to Dr Emmanuelle Van Erck-Westergren DVM, PhD, ECEIM for her contribution and research.