Feeding straw in the field?

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Dexter

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I'm planning ahead for next winter as this one caught me on the hop and I never really caught up!

Anyway, I have a 13 acre field. It will have a whole 2 horses out on in over the summer, and theres too much grass already! but I'm hoping with them being growing youngsters I can find a way to manage, but obviously there should still be tons of keep coming into winter.

Next winter there will be 3 possibly 4. The 2 youngsters, my 14.2hh pony mare and poss a 15hand ish cob. During the worst of the winter my mare was out with one of the youngsters and she came out of the winter fatter than she went in, due to feeding hay when the snow was on the ground. Although they only really touched the hay when the snow was at its worst, the rest of the time they preferred to dig for grass and leave the hay going to waste! I want to avoid weight gain this year, but obviously they need forage.

I was talking to some one today who suggested using really good quality straw ad lib, as well as a token feed of suregrow to make sure they are getting all the vits and mins they need.

Does anyone else feed straw in the field instead of hay? Do I just buy big bales and have the dropped in ad lib? Do I try and mix hay and straw? I can only have big bales as small bales are to easy to nick :( Theres something about feeding straw that feels 'wrong' but I need them to have access to forage without piling on weight, and in all honesty it will probably only be needed when theres actual snow lying.
 
13 acres sounds big for the summer if the grazing is good. Might it be an idea to subdivide it a bit and concentrate more on restricting intake in the summer than winter? (Not a straw expert so wouldn't know what to suggest abt that.)
 
Thats the plan. I've just rented 3ish acres about 500 yds away so I can put them in there if needs be. I can also split the 13 acres etc. The summer isnt my issue, its the winter!

I want them to have access to forage 24/7, but I dont want them ballooning coming into spring. I'm also well aware that they wasted alot of hay last winter as they preferred to dig for grass etc, and there is more than enough grass to keep them all out 24/7 without needing hay, so long as they can get to it. I dont want to be in the positon I was, where the snow came really early and all my small bale hay got nicked :( I was sourcing small bales on a daily basis and lugging it up from 500 yards away in 2 foot of snow!

My worry is just chucking out big bales ad lib. I could try and section the bales off and feed just enough, but I genuinely think if I used electric my energiser would get nicked, and if I didnt they would work out how to get to it etc, and using wrapped haylage is a def no go as they would explode :D
 
We have a very different situation, as ours have to come in at night in winter as the ground gets very muddy and we have very litle grass. But we have good doers and we mix hay/lage with good quality oat or barley straw. We also put straw out in the field in the worst winter weather, so that they have some forage without extra calories.
A friend whose RS ponies live out alternates big bale hay with big bale straw daily. I would think that if yours wasted hay to dig for grass, they would be unlikely to gorge on big bale hay.
 
Hello,
Why not put them on smaller paddocks and cut the other half for a hay crop? why are you buying hay would it be possible to cut your own? After the hay cut, you could give them the field back. Take them off again in February and grow another crop.
 
My older Highland ponies were strip grazed aftermath grass until Christmas, no hay or straw. In the New Year, the grass had run out and I then fed ad lib oat straw in big bale feeders to both young and old and rationed the hay as I knew it would be scarce.

They are fed hay twice a day (approx. 1/2 small bale each) and I expect them to clean it up with no waste. The youngsters got one bucket of hard feed (sugar beet, whole oats, and bruised barley) between six. They've come through the winter looking pretty good but seem to have pulled out a lot of straw in search of grain. Last winter I fed barley straw which was eaten. I've since learnt that oat straw is more nutritious but not as palatable, unless it has a lot of grass through it.

I've had no problems feeding straw but it does need to be introduced gradually with ad lib hay at the start otherwise they might pig out and colic.
 
I mix some straw with the hay or haylage, not had a problem (yet!), and obviously the hay / haylage lasts longer. Never fed it on its own, but to be honest, when they're in they are all on straw and munch their beds quite happily......
 
What I do with my winter grazing is put them on it in late September early October and strip graze it with Electric fencing, That way the grass lasts me until Late Nov to sometimes Mid December. This year I started by feeding a mix of hay and good quality barley straw for a couple of weeks before going onto big bale Haylage which was cheaper than the hay and straw. The way to stop them wasting is to use a feeder of some kind.

If you have someone good with wood then you are away, but I have some old cages from around the big water containers that I have altered and I have purchased the round sheep feeders, they are brilliant for putting round the round bales, I have saved a lot of money this way, though they are just over £100 they have probably saved that and more over the winter.

Be careful though with straw and youngsters as it has too high a phosphorus content and needs balancing.
 
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