Hay expensive and hard to find - cut with barley straw?

[Achinghips]

What do we think of the above? Some of the girls on my yard are thinking of doing this. I've read a bit about impaction colic. Any thoughts?

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

The only thing I would say is that I would prefer oat straw cos barley straw has those sharp long whiskers on it which can cause problems/irritation.

Colic wise I wouldnt do it with anything that had a history of colic or was a greedy or native type, but apart from that probably ok.

 

[intouch]

I was at a talk by William Micklam and he recommended oat straw for ponies and natives and everything else that wasn't in hard work. Pity it's just as expensive as hay!

 

[moses06]

I hve done it for years with good doers - oat staw is hard to come by in my area, so I use barley, You will rarley come across the sharp bits these days as modern harvesting is so efficient. As long as your horse or pony has good dental health you should have no problems - after all how many people moan about their horses eating a wheat straw bed, yet don't get colic etc!

I think this winter, alot of horse owners will have to have a serious think about alternative forage to hay.

 

[touchstone]

I sourced oat straw last winter, but the two natives it was bought i for wouldn't touch it! They would pick out the hay and no matter how hungry they left the straw. Luckily we used it as bedding, so it wasn't all wasted. I did wonder if it had been sprayed with something not very nice though

I think they say that as long as the fibre that passes through is short and well chewed it should be okay to feed straw, if there are longer fibre shreds in the droppings then it's supposed to be not recommended.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I hve done it for years with good doers - oat staw is hard to come by in my area, so I use barley, You will rarley come across the sharp bits these days as modern harvesting is so efficient. As long as your horse or pony has good dental health you should have no problems - after all how many people moan about their horses eating a wheat straw bed, yet don't get colic etc!

QUOTE]

Mine ate his straw bed and did get colic even tho his teeth were A1, some horses are ok with it but others arent. The barley straw our stables used to buy in was pretty bristly, depends on the farmer I think.

 

[Achinghips]

Yes, many horse owners are going to have to be looking for alternatives for hay this winter. I heard a quote of £7 a bale the other day - ridiculous and now everyone's panic buying. It only takes one farmer in the area to force the price down but ......