feeding straw

[CazD]

I have extremely good doers and normally feed a mix of hay and oat straw but this year I cannot get hold of oat straw anywhere. does anyone feed barley or wheat straw? which is better to feed? Is colic more likely with other types of straw other than oat straw?

 

[ribbons]

Barley straw is fine. But be aware some horses find it more tasty than oat and can be greedy with it. I would avoid wheat straw, most horses won't eat it any way but a piggy one probably would and it's not so easily digested, hence colic risk.

 

[LD&S]

^^^^^^^
But mine and lots of other horses eat wheat straw with no ill effects.

 

[Rose Folly]

I was told that a lot of Russian horses are fed barley, wheat or oat straw with little or no hay, and do fine on it.

 

[Toffee44]

I fed barley straw for a few winters. Unfortunately my mare decided to age over night and no longer a good doer

 

[Polos Mum]

Mine will come into a freshly made box and eat the wheat straw before his nice quality fresh hay, he will also eat wheat straw put out in the field when the grass is looking short (and they didn't need the energy of hay)!
Never had any issues with colic - but do notice he drinks more when his bed has fresh straw.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I have fed barley straw soaked with the hay and they eat it, they dont seem to want the wheat straw.

 

[ribbons]

Of course eating wheat straw does not guarantee a bout of colic, and yes lots eat it with no I'll effects. It does however increase the risk. So if I had a horse happy to eat it I would bed on barley or oat. If horse had a weight issue I would bed on shavings and feed controlled quantities of oat or barley straw. Why take the risk.

 

[paulineh]

Some years ago when hay was short we fed a mixture of hay and barley straw without a problem.

 

[Tronk]

I spoke to the vet about feeding my fattie straw - vet said fine but either soak or make sure there is plenty of water available to help avoid impaction.

So I feed barley straw on top of fattie's hay allowance to stop him eating his way out of the stable.. He has been known to eat a full bed of straw in one night so he's now on shavings with rationed hay and straw allowance!

 

[Polos Mum]

To make any sensible judgement tho you need to know what the risk is increased to and from what. If the risk doubles to 0.00000002 (from 0.0000001) it's nothing compared to the risks associated with ulcers/ being over weight.
You take a risk when you get out of bed in the morning - everything is a risk of some kind!

 

[shadowboy]

I mix wheat straw in with my hay in a net then soak the net- it provides water to reduce risk of colic

 

[PucciNPoni]

Mine is getting wheat straw at the moment. It's given at a ration of 50:50 with good quality hay in doubled small holed nets. He's got a water drinker so water always available and for good measure any bucket feeds are good and wet. I think that the small holed nets do slow the consumption down a lot so he can't bolt it (my horse eats VERY fast and is a bit of a panic eater). He's been getting this type of diet for nearly two years now.

 

[weebarney]

Few years ago when on a livery yard one of mine ate straw off the muck heap and had choke for hours afterwards. Very scary.