Feeding haylage & straw??

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el_Snowflakes

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So my horse cannot eat pure haylage as it gives had an extremely runny/gassy tummy. However she would rather eat her straw bed than her hay in her haynets so I started mixing some haylage into her haynets but she leaves the hay in the bottom!

The straw we have is lovely quality (& apparently very tasty :D) I can't remember if its oat or barley straw but its one of those.

So would it be safe for me to put haylage & straw in her haynets? I want her to have plenty of fibre.
 
Mixing a little straw would add extra fibre but I'd check it isnt barley straw first as thats not suitable for horses ;) Straw can cause impaction colic so make sure plenty of water is available, introduce it gradually and keep a close eye on her.
My older cob gets really runny on haylage too - I've been advised that a bit of bran in the feed can help dry them up but never tried it (moved back onto hay instead).
 
Barley straw is fine for horses to eat, it's just tougher and hence takes longer to breakdown hence the comment about colic. Oat straw is softer and breaks down quicker. wheat straw is the 'worst' but - many many people feed wheat straw with no problem at all (including me)
If she's happy to eat her bed why do you want to put more in the haynet? Can't she just carry on eating her bed?
I think one of the great benefits of straw beds is that you can be sure they never run out of forage as they can always eat their bed.
 
Hello Snowflakes

I think everyone has a different opinion on feeding straw :p although chopped straw tends to be the basis of most chaff feeds :rolleyes:

I've always heard Barley and Oat straw is best if you want to feed straw. Wheat straw (which is the most common type used for bedding) tends not to be so palatable to most.

I feed Lyla barley straw (its bright gold and falls apart easily ;)) along with her haylage to bulk it out. She's a pretty good doer, and I although I prefer to feed haylage as better quality than hay, obviously I cannot give ad lib else I'd have a very fat mare :eek:

So by adding the straw she has more fibre to keep her gut going and extra food (without the calories!) to stop her getting bored! I'd say the straw makes up half of her nightly allowance.

Water should always be available anyway, and start adding straw gradually (I started with maybe a couple of handfuls and she now gets almost a haynet full)

Hope this helps ;) DDx
 
It's my horse standard diet for their forage to be haylage and chopped oat straw I just the vary the amount according to their condition and the work they are doing , I never have any hay on the the yard ever.
 
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