How many feed straw to their horses?

Do you feed any straw to your horse

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3DE

3DE

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I feed my horses a mix of hay and straw to bulk out their forage and make it far more ad-lib. When I fed hay alone I used to feed 2 big double netted nets and it would be finished by 11pm! Then they would move onto their beds :rolleyes:

After a bit of googling I stopped becoming worried about this and started to view it as something positive - my horse wasn't standing around for 8 hours with an empty belly - and started mixing in straw with they hay. I fed the same amount but it lasted much, much longer as it was harder to eat.

So does anyone else use straw to bulk out their horses feed to prevent them standing with empty bellies and risking colic and ulcers?

A quick poll...
 
I tried for two years running to feed straw to my good doer; she simply picked out the hay and left the straw, even when hungry! I got the straw from a local farmer and I wonder if it had been sprayed with herbicides before harvest that might have made it taste nasty.
It would be ideal forage for mine, but sadly didn't work, although she will eat straw in chaff :rolleyes:
 
i only feed haylage, but if my horse didn't have a dust allergy i might give it a go, tried it with my friends good doer mixed with haylage and he stamped it into the bedding absolutely disgusted he was!
 
I feed hay & straw to my fatty, but she tries to pick out the straw, but at least she eats slower doing that. My skinny loves straw, and would happily eat more of that than her hay, but I NEED her to eat more hay!
 
Last year I fed barley straw and it worked really well but this year the straw got damp when baling so not using it. And no one else seems to sell rounds nad I have no storage for small bales at mine.
 
no i only feed haylege but that's only when it snows otherwise she lives out 24/7 on excellent grazing!

I think it's sensible to mix and even more so if you have a horse that needs to loose a little weight.
 
I put straw in their shelters, it is up to them whether they eat it or lie on it, I don't care.

I did try feeding straw along with hay but they ignored it, they eat it if it is in the shelters though :confused:
 
I was always told it causes colic. How true this is I dont know but one of the horses at our yard coliced terribly after eating his straw bed...
I'd never feed it just for this reason, and as said before it's usually heavily sprayed.
 
Kao said:
I was always told it causes colic. How true this is I dont know but one of the horses at our yard coliced terribly after eating his straw bed...
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It can cause impaction colic if poor quality straw is eaten in large amounts.

Although I don't "feed" straw, my horse lightly grazes on her bedding which is why I like to use straw rather than shavings.
 
Kao said:
I was always told it causes colic. How true this is I dont know but one of the horses at our yard coliced terribly after eating his straw bed...
I'd never feed it just for this reason, and as said before it's usually heavily sprayed.
Click to expand...

Depends on the type and quality of straw...Oat and barley are what should be fed, wheat not so much as it cant be digested properly. My guys love oat and barley, they wont even look at wheat :)
 
I feed oat straw to mine as an alternative to hay for the lammi prone ones in the summer. I've got one stabled on it at the moment and one of the others that was picking at hay mugged the wheelbarrow as I was going by with a clean barrowload. They seem to love fossicking about in it looking for stray oats!
 
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