Feeding straw

Box_Of_Frogs

Box_Of_Frogs

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I've been advised by the best in the land to change my rescue gypsy cob mare's winter ad lib haylage for a hay/straw combination as she is 75kg overweight. Erk. She's 14.2. 75kg is almost 12 STONE. With an already badly damaged liver (from ragwort poisoning) being overweight is doing her no favours at all. Does anyone know if ordinary bog standard straw is ok to mix in or should it be a special "feed" grade? Anyone got any experience in this? I ask this as a worried owner with an overactive "mother-bird" gland (ie, see an open mouth and absolutely HAVE TO stuff food in it).
 
We used oat straw last winter. They had their hay quota also. The oat straw was 70p per bale. They loved it. They ended up eating the straw before their hay.
Its a good filler and keeps them warm. We just could not afford to put so much hay out as they all live out and needed something there all the time.
We will be feeding oat straw again this winter. We had shetlands to thoroughbreds on it and they all lived out in good health.
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The old farmer was a bit shocked when i asked for it. It was done in his time but people stopped feeding it. I am very old fashioned.
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Fattening?? FATTENING!!!!??? Is it honestly Tia? Prof Knottenberg said 50/50 hay/straw to get Angel's weight down. Would shredded newspaper be any better??? Old cardboard?? Anything??
 
I fed Amy straw as part of her ration a few years ago to help keep her weight in check.

The other thing you could do is either get hay (last years if poss) or replace part of the ration with tubs of Hi Fi lite or similar, if you're not keen on feeding straw.
 
Erm, oat straw is not fattening. That and barley straw is often recommended for fatties to keep their fibre in their diet high, and the calories low. I wouldnt recommend wheat straw as it is normally too 'woody'. Also, just be aware, if your horse has got poor teeth then feeding straw can sometimes cause impaction colic as it is harder to chew etc.
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I have done this in the past with the ponies. I am lucky in that I get stalky hay which means my two hairies can have ad lib hay but not put on the pounds.

When Chancer was away for schooling he was on straw, he loved it - had a good munch on this as much as his haynet. I have used oat or barley straw.

Personally unless I had a horse with COPD I would not feed hayledge to cob/native types as it can pile the pounds.

I have also found lucie stalks from Simple Systems to be good for fibre that does not have anything added and keeps the weight down.
 
I feed super quality wheat straw (2006!), well technically I didn't mean to, but mine have a few slabs of fresh straw everyday which they love to munch and tides them over after they have gobbled their hay.

Yes its wheat straw, but its very nice wheat straw and *touch wood* I have had zero colic problems.
 
ive fed mine straw too in winter
only thing i watched was that it can be dusty.
i fed it to my lamanitic and youngster to give them something more to munch on and my filly had it as an extra.
have not found it to be fattening for any of mine.
i started off with jst a few handfuls and built up to 50-50 to avoid colic
 
Lol! Cardboard is no good - turns into mush
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Oat straw is probably the most palatable of all the grain straws. It is often higher in carbohydrates though; apparently it is the oil in the stalks (or something; can you tell I am a hay farmer and not a straw farmer
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) which makes it a better nutrional feedstuff compared to other straws; however the benefit to feeding oat straw is that it is generally less dusty than the other grain straws.

Over here, oat straw is generally fed to beef cattle, although some farmers who produce high quality oat straw do feed to dairy cows too. Really to judge straw properly, you would have to have it analysed; this is fairly normal practice over here for the farmer to do this, however if your farmer hasn't, then I would imagine you could have it analysed by your local feed store.

Here's a link to the Ontario equivalent of DEFRA, which might give you a little more info
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http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/facts/straw.htm
 
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