crbecky10
Active Member
Do they ever to try to eat wheat straw? My pony is quite greedy, and I usually bed her on shavings, I wondered whether it would be a problem with wheat straw.
Eating Wheat Straw bedding?
- Thread starter crbecky10
- Start date
Princess Rosie
Well-Known Member
Horses generally will snack on straw beds (even with plenty of hay) but we have strangely found that ours don't really enjoy barley straw (which even our supplier finds odd!) I'm thrilled as I love the barley straw, it's golden and gives lovely beds, ours all munch their way through wheat straw beds I'm afraid. I guess you are looking for a cheaper alternative to shavings?
Exploding Chestnuts
Well-Known Member
Wheat straw was traditionally used for bedding, but it was longer in those days, and looked very smart. it should be unattractive to horses, but I found my greedy boy rifled through it for bits of hay [crop must have been undersown with grass] and I had to get something else as he had RAO.
You can only try it, also spray with dilute Jeyes fluid to stop him eating it.
You can only try it, also spray with dilute Jeyes fluid to stop him eating it.
Happy Hunter
Well-Known Member
Short answer - yes - if its a greedy pony it will eat the Jeyes fluid too!!!
Orangehorse
Well-Known Member
They certainly will eat it, in fact with good reason mine probably prefer it to their hay at the moment. It is fine IF they are used to it, and like any diet change, it is introduced slowly. What you really have to be careful is, say, bringing in a pony that has beenout on grass and putting it in a stable with lots of nice clean wheat straw. There is a very real danger that they will stuff themselves and get colic and maybe die.
When mine have been out 24/7 and I am starting to bring them in at nights I always mix up some old bedding - maybe shavings if that is all I have - with new straw and sprinkle with disinfectant. It is OK for them to have nibble on the wheat straw, but they mustn't have a belly-full.
I find that mine don't like barley straw either, especially if offered in a hay net! They are bedded on oat straw at the moment, but they don't seem to be eating a great deal of that either.
When mine have been out 24/7 and I am starting to bring them in at nights I always mix up some old bedding - maybe shavings if that is all I have - with new straw and sprinkle with disinfectant. It is OK for them to have nibble on the wheat straw, but they mustn't have a belly-full.
I find that mine don't like barley straw either, especially if offered in a hay net! They are bedded on oat straw at the moment, but they don't seem to be eating a great deal of that either.
Carlosmum
Well-Known Member
Both mine munch their wheat straw, the older boy had a mild colic after 4 days having changed from wood pellets but I think it was most likely because I had sprinkled the bed with a little jeyes disinfectant. He's fine now, I just mix the new straw in with the old damp stuff and spread it through out the bed.