What is hay dust?

   / What is hay dust? #1  

Boondox

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Craftsbury Common, Vermont
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Deere 4044R cab, Kubota KX-121-3S
For the second time now I've developed a wicked cough after handling multiple bales of 6 month old hay that leaves a cloud of dust in the air when moved.

Is that just a nuisance dust, or is it something biologically active like mold spores..?

Pete
 
   / What is hay dust? #2  
Could be mold... how does it smell? Fresh? I guess maybe you really should not smell it. What color is it?

Could be just fiber breakdown, dust, dirt.

Any health issues on your part?

Why not wear a mask. sometimes I do.....

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / What is hay dust? #3  
Especially since you're already noticed a temporal relationship between the hay dust exposure and your symptoms, I would recommend that you be very careful in the future. There is a problem called hypersensitivity pneumonitis that develops from repeated exposure to organic irritants and antigens (antigens are things that your body recognizes as foreign and will cause developent of allergy inducing antibodies). Many of the antigens are the result of fungal growths within the material being handled.

Of course most of the below don't apply to you (unless you're a pigeon-raising paprika farmer /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif), but here are some known Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis Syndromes with their sources and instigating entities worth a Google Search:

Farmers Lung - Moldy Hay (Saccharopolyspora rectivirgula)

Bird Fancier's Lung - (Saccharopolyspora rectivirgula and Micropolyspora faeni)

Bagassosis - Moldy sugar cane fiber (Thermoactinomyces sacchari)

Grain handler's lung - Moldy grain (S rectivirgula, Thermoactinomyces vulgaris)

Humidifier/air-conditioner lung - Contaminated forced-air systems, heated water reservoirs (S rectivirgula, T vulgaris)

Bird breeder's lung - Pigeons, parakeets, fowl, rodents Avian or animal proteins

Cheese worker's lung - Cheese mold (Penicillium casei )

Malt worker's lung - Moldy malt (Aspergillus clavatus)

Paprika splitter's lung - Paprika dust (Mucor stolonifer)

Wheat weevil - Infested wheat (Sitophilus granarius)

Mollusk shell hypersensitivity - Shell dust, Sea snail shells

Chemical worker's lung - Manufacture of plastics, polyurethane foam, rubber
(Trimellitic anhydride, diisocyanate, methylene diisocyanate)

Some Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis problems are self limited, but they can go on to be chronic. Be careful out there. This doesn't even touch on the types of actual infections that can occur from exposure to live organisms such as bacterial and fungal nasties.
 
   / What is hay dust? #4  
Excellent advice from Doc Heb.

I think mouldy hay may also affect some animals.

Egon
 
   / What is hay dust?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Thanks, Chris. You've given me all the keywords any man could hope for! I had an upper lobe pneumonia a couple of months back that I attributed to being run down from doing everything while my wife was in the hospital fighting to recover from two emergency surguries. In looking back, however, that illness followed the last time I moved hay bales from the storage shed to the barn.

I'll check it out. Pete
 
   / What is hay dust? #6  
Egon,

Seeing your post reminded me of another Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis trigger:

Woodworkers Lung - chronic sawdust exposure, with special concern for wood that has started to rot (e.g., spalted maple) and some other Toxic Woods
 
   / What is hay dust? #7  
Mornin Pete,
Dont know what I could possibly add that Doc hasnt allready posted. Any type of dust breathed in for any extended period of time is certainly not good for your lungs. You can get a bunch of those one use disposable masks quite cheap. Hang a bunch on the wall in the barn?

scotty
 
   / What is hay dust? #8  
Thanks Doc Heb. At the moment I have a small amount of spalted maple drying. Come spring when I can work outside I will be turning it into sawdust and toothpicks. I do have a mask.

Pete, is there any chance of mouse or bat droppings being in the hay. They too can lead to some ugly consequences.

Really don't want to spoil your day.

Egon
 
   / What is hay dust?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Scott -- It's not extended exposure, just a few minutes once a week. That's why I didn't make the connection right away. I was thinking some form of pneumoconiosis from the physical irritant, not the biologic/allergic basis like DocHeb pointed out. I always thought of farmers lung as a chronic condition.

Egon -- We have three incredibly aggressive mousers in our three mean cats. While I'm sure there are some here and there, I have yet to find any rodent nests or droppings this year.

Masks. Must get masks.

Pete
 
   / What is hay dust? #10  
Sorry for your troubles.

Perhaps rethinking your hay strategy/storage/consumption is another way to mitigate the irritant?

Good luck.
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

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