Straw

[pollyathers]

Last Winter when the hay situation got really bad we were told by some friends that horses can eat a certain type of straw and not have any effects from it. Does anyone feed their horses this? and if so what kind of straw is it and do you think that it's as good as hay?

 

[L&M]

I think oat straw is the type they can eat, but bare in mind if there are hay shortages, straw will be growing under the same conditions so may suffer the same problem...

 

[canteron]

Oat straw is the most digestible and has the most 'goodness' in it, followed by barley straw, and then wheat straw, which is pretty tough for them to eat (ie needs good teeth) and doesn't have too much nutrition in it!!.

Only know this as feed supplier has run out of oat and barley, so wondering about the pros and cons of wheat straw!