Oat straw

you might want to repost with more specific title.

best place is probably your local agric auctioneers, many of them do forage auctions. altho mostly this will be big round bales, quuite a few of the farmers who do oat straw are old boys who have always grown it, and some have a small baler they can rebale it for you into small bales.
The auctioneers might know of someone if you ask. Generally you are buying off farm direct.

bear in mind tho that oats are harvested last in the year and the weather was terrible so it might be a struggle to find good stuff - I tend to buy it when I find it but work on the basis if it is only bedding quality I will use it for that, if its good I will feed it - at £2 a bale where we are it works both ways.
 
The Jakenator said:
Thank you for your reply. I'm looking for some decent stuff to feed.
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Many farmers struggled to harvest in 2012. Straw as bedding is difficult to source and the vast majority of farmers had to house their stock very early so much of the poor quality straw has been retained on farm to feed. Most of the harvesting was done very late and good, feed quality oat straw will be few and far between.

The backlash of the 2012 harvest will soon be evident in our food as well as out horses feeds. Anything with wheat or cereal in it is going to be extremely expensive.
 
Thanks for the replies. I think I will stick to the oat straw chaff, I wanted some bales as I thought it would work out cheaper. I feed it to my boy who has to watch his weight but eats so fast and I hate the thought of him having nothing to eat through the night.
 
One NB : if you feed oat straw chopped or whole it is deficient in protein and minerals so this needs to be balanced by other things such as alfalfa plus a vit min supplement somewhere else in the diet ideally; and is recommended to be no more than 50% of the forage ration.

Given those restrictions I find it extremely useful at giving horses a longer more satisfying chew overnight and providing they arent colic or choke prone it is generally problem free, esp if chopped.
 
Thank you for the advice, I am aware of this, he has a balanced diet but he has EMS so I have to be super strict, he doesn't help himself by wolfing down his rations in next to no time, I've tried every trick to slow him down but he is the master of super fast eating! Thanks again
 
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