Feeding wheat straw with heads on

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stimpy

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This winter I am feeding wheat straw to two of my ponies - they are fat geldings and I need to use the winter to get the weight off.

Their paddock now has nothing in it and they are showing signs of being pretty hungry and fall on the wheat straw when I feed them twice a day. I feed the straw, 2-3 slices, with half a slice of small bale haylage so they pretty much inhale the haylage fist and then start on the straw. For some reason I like the softer haylage to ht their empty bellies first but don't know if that is of any consequence to their digestion.

I am feeding wheat straw as I am having great difficult sourcing barley or oat straw. My local farmer has a wheat cross that is a bit softer than the 'normal' wheat straw but it has been baled into straw with the heads still on. Don't ask me why the heads are still on, but they are. Anyway, what effect will this have on the straw nutritionally? Should I avoid it and stick with the coarse plain wheat straw? Needless to say the fat boys like both versions, they will eat pretty much anything.
 
I expect your farmer means Triticale a cross between wheat & rye. The heads are 'empty' of grain as the grain will have been threshed out as the corn went through the combine you can check this by pulling the ears apart. There will be some feed value to triticale straw and it may be a little more palatable than wheat. I wouldn't use either as a feed straw only as bedding.
 
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I don't like feeding straw, especially not wheat, I've experienced too many bloating from it.

Out of choice, I'd rather get low nutrient hay to give them ad-lib in double nets and add a general vitamin block for them.
 
ChristmasSparkles said:
I don't like feeding straw, especially not wheat, I've experienced too many bloating from it.

Out of choice, I'd rather get low nutrient hay to give them ad-lib in double nets and add a general vitamin block for them.
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Yes, understand why you say this but for mine it just doesn't work. I wouldn't dream of feeding straw to my thoroughbred, his digestive tract just couldn't cope, but the ponies have evolved to live on very low value fibre, calling them good doers doesn't really adequately describe them! They graze like sheep too, they eat all the weeds in their path :eek: Hay simply gives them too many calories, my laminitic pony mare was in for 6 months on a very strict diet eating just under 2% body weight in low quality soaked hay (no hard feed) and still didn't lose weight.
 
stimpy said:
Yes, understand why you say this but for mine it just doesn't work. I wouldn't dream of feeding straw to my thoroughbred, his digestive tract just couldn't cope, but the ponies have evolved to live on very low value fibre, calling them good doers doesn't really adequately describe them! They graze like sheep too, they eat all the weeds in their path :eek: Hay simply gives them too many calories, my laminitic pony mare was in for 6 months on a very strict diet eating just under 2% body weight in low quality soaked hay (no hard feed) and still didn't lose weight.
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Sorry, didn't mean to sound patronising a all. I can understand why too, I used to feed straw as part of my welsh cob's diet when she was younger to keep the weight off her for years with no ill effect.....having tried it over the last couple of years recently with the cobs, which I thought too were fine to cope with it, I've had a larger number of them go down with bloat/colic which has always been caused by gorging wheat straw. So for them....it'll always be ad-lib hay now instead. But again, I know plenty which still use straw mix for fatties, but I personally just wouldn't again now that's all. :)
 
ChristmasSparkles said:
Sorry, didn't mean to sound patronising a all.
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Don't worry ChristmasSparkles, no offence taken at all :) I know that feeding straw is a polarising topic, and before I had proper good doers I would have been horrified myself!

I am just happy to have access to this forum and all its knowledgeable people :D
 
I could be wrong here, but thought the only good straws to feed were oat and barley? I feed oat straw mixed half and half with hay, never had a problem. Has been instrumental in getting weight off an extremely good doer. To keep him from bolting it though, I do feed it from small holed nets doubled to slow the consumption speed down. Probably more info than you were looking for ;)
 
PucciNPoni said:
I could be wrong here, but thought the only good straws to feed were oat and barley? I feed oat straw mixed half and half with hay, never had a problem. Has been instrumental in getting weight off an extremely good doer. To keep him from bolting it though, I do feed it from small holed nets doubled to slow the consumption speed down. Probably more info than you were looking for ;)
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:) Thanks for the info!

I think I may need to adjust my ratios a bit, I am getting the impression that people that do feed straw are bulking out with straw rather than using it as the main component. I may also re-double my efforts to source oat straw (it seems no-one round here grows oats any more!)
 
At the risk of opening myself up to a load of told you sos...

On Thursday one of the two fat boys went down with impaction colic. I've had him 4 years and he has never had colic before, when the vet arrived she could feel a hard mass whilst doing a rectal which prompted a "****ing hell" :( He had some pain relief and 3 litres of water containing epsom salts dumped into his stomach via a gastric tube and was starved for 18 hours before going out to graze. He is now looking fairly normal but obviously I am keeping a very close eye on him. The other boy isn't showing any colicy signs but I am watching him like a hawk too.

I blame the straw feeding so that idea is now out of the window. After this, I would rather feed hay in double nets and then have them go for a few hours overnight with nothing, than give them straw to keep them occupied.

It's really frustrating as I have fed straw successfully in the past but now I will be too worried to try again even if I find lovely soft oat straw.
 
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PucciNPoni said:
Oooh, that's scary - and what a shame! Were you bulking the hay with teh straw or just using the straw on it's own?
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I was feeding two slices of straw with the equivalent of just under one slice of haylage. And I was feeding on the ground in the field so I think they were wolfing the haylage and then eating the straw in one go as it were.

Whenever I have fed straw in the past it's been in small holed hay nets so maybe it was the speed of consumption that was the biggest factor, they probably weren't pausing to chew much. I'm too scared to try again though :(
 
I do think that small holed doubled nets does help - because they're fighting for every mouthful and chewing it well before they can get more in. I find that netting it that way too just geneally makes it more difficult with straw to get out more than just hay (the straw is slippery and stalkier so a bit more tough to get out of the nets). I can understand your reluctance. Every horse on my yard got hay/straw mixed in nets this summer and did well on it. Even those that have colicked in the past. FWIW, I never give more than half straw in my rations.
 
I think I've heard that colic risk is one of the reasons to feed oat or barley straw not wheat straw. I have a friend who feeds oat straw and I'm sure that's what she told me.
 
Oddldy enough, just opened a new bale of what looks like wheat straw with the heads on - so I did some googling and found this:

http://pubstorage.sdstate.edu/AgBio_Publications/articles/ExEx2039.pdf

Forage Alternatives
Regardless of the class of horse (work
category), the necessary forage diet cannot be
abandoned even when traditional forage is difficult
to find. The following feedstuffs can
stretch the current forage supply or in some
cases replace it.
Straw from cereal grains can be fed to
horses almost exclusively as a fiber source. This
may be a way to bypass buying additional hay
when feeding a horse with high energy needs
(obtained from a high grain/concentrate diet).
Oat straw is generally considered best as it is
softer and does not have the awns that are on
barley and some wheat straw.
Straws are very low in Vitamin A and
about half of the phosphorus needed for a
mature horse.
 
I haven't read all the posts and these points may have already been covered, but;

I've always been told that wheat straw can be the cause of impaction colic, so I've never fed it or used it as bedding. Just about every horse which I've ever had has eaten its bed, without any ill effect.

I've always believed that GOOD quality barley straw is a poor man's hay, and for years I kept many horse which were living out on an ad-lib supply. They always looked very well.

I've always found oat straw to be very hard and sharp, and have never found horses that wanted to eat it. It may have been a particular variety though, perhaps the stuff used for thatching!

Alec.
 
I have Exmoors who are fed part straw although I always try for barley/oat straw (they will eat anything though!). They are of course, very well adapted to eat it but I am always wary especially in colder weather as have seen alot of impactions caused by feeding straw (was a nurse at large equine hospital back in the day!) particularly in heavier types.
They will need to drink alot more anyway when eating straw and of course more again if we have a freeze. So if on straw during cold temps you must make sure they are drinking enough, it's doubly important!
I have just started feeding a plain straw chop (oat) with rinsed speedibeet but will be feeding hay as forage this winter (I can get nice hay for the same price as oat straw round here).
 
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