Eating her bed.

[Myself57]

We use barley straw for bedding. I would love to use shavings but we have nowhere to put the dirty ones after muck out. The farmer where I dump the manure, will let me build a muck stack with straw, but not a shavings one. Problem is my cob eats her bed. She actually seems to prefer the barley straw to the hay I feed her which is good hay. Someone just told me eating straw can give them colic but how do I stop her? Someone else told me to spray her bed with dilute Jeyes fluid or dettol. But what if she still eats it. Can anyone help with safe advice please.

 

[lhotse]

Why don't you put her on Aubiose, it rots down a lot faster than shavings and probably straw as well, so can't see the farmer objecting.

 

[alsxx]

I had the same trouble with my mare and straw, even if it was drenched in jeyes fluid. She is now on bliss bedding, which is chopped rape straw treated with eucalyptus. She still nibbles it a bit if I put a new bale in, but long gone are the days of finding her with nothing but concrete and poo as she had eaten the whole bloody lot!!

Bliss breaks down in 6 months also which may keep your YO happy.

X

 

[fatpiggy]

My mare used to eat her straw bed every night. I hated shavings (too much like hard work with a mare who tried to make an indoor swimming pool for herself) so changed to aubiose. If you gave me free shavings or straw now, I'd still buy aubiose. I only take out a barrow of wet bedding per week (used to be 2 per day on shavings) and it rots down megaquick, during the winter when she is in at night and out all day. I add half a bale per week so its really economical too. It is also really light to handle, even when wet which is great for my terrible back problems, and doesn't smell bad when you lift it.

 

[kellyeaton]

i used to spray eucolyptus oil and vinger on my straw bed that worked!

 

[cjdjivanovic]

Nedzbedz is treated (dust free and non-palatable) straw and even the fat pony on a starvation diet didn't eat it, plus much cheaper than shavings, etc. I'm not a rep for the company in case you are wondering!