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 Shoot Yeah
Posts: 4273
  
Location: Where you need a paddle... Oregon! | I bedded down my horse's run-in shelter with straw today. I've never used straw before, but I'm in this place for the first time this winter and it's starting to get cold so I thought I'd spread a bale out in there for her. She is eating it. There's a bunk of free-choice alfalfa right there, yet she still is eating it. I stayed in there with her for a few minutes when she went to check it out and was getting really irked that she'd try eating straw when there's alfalfa - not to mention what's leftover of her can of oats from this morning.
Do I need to be concerned? All I can think of is impact colic....  |
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 Tried and True
Posts: 21185
 
Location: Where I am happiest | She will be fine. It wont hurt her one bit and she wont eat much of it. We bed on straw. I actually prefere it and new horses not used to it will always eat some. They quickly find out it's nothing much different from very stemmy poor grass hay. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| I saw a cool documentary about a VERY high end jumping stable that beds on straw. They like it because the horses can munch on it when they're bored. If they have a horse that just continues to fill up on it, they do switch to shavings, but they absolutely prefer straw.
I'd gladly use it, but I'm afraid it would be a death sentence for my asthma. Seriously allergic to the stuff! |
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| We use to bed our stalls with straw way back in the day.. they'd eat a little then ignore it.. never had a problem. .. |
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 More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | Living where I do straw costs my labor and the fuel and wear and tear on my tractor and square baler. Much cheaper than running to town for shavings. |
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 Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | Back in Europe that is all we used. The stalls there are mostly concrete and they get straw to have something to lay down on, and yes, some will eat it all, so they get shavings. But straw is much cheaper so most people use that. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | It depends on the condition of the combine that harvested the field. Straw is what is left after harvesting oats or wheat. If the combine left lots of grain on the stalks, that's what the horse is searching for. |
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Expert
Posts: 2122
Location: The Great Northwest | I always have a feeder of clean straw for the horses to munch on when the good hay is gone. They are very easy keepers and the straw is very low calorie. It works for the ones that get fat on very little good hay. |
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Shoot Yeah
Posts: 4273
Location: Where you need a paddle... Oregon! | Thanks everyone! I feel much better now. She is a very picky eater, so I was surprised. I usually use bedding pellets, but this run-in had an uneven dirt floor and after putting 4 bags of pellets in it a few months ago, then a bag of shavings a couple months ago, I decided a bale of straw might be best. The temps have been in the low 20's and I wanted her to have something nice to bed on and it helped even out the ground. |
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Expert
Posts: 3147
| The TB farms that stand the top stallions bed them in straw. Straw doesn't absorb much however. At Spendthrift Farms back in the 80's the stud barns had asphalt floors with several inches of sand for the absorbency and padding covered by deep, deep straw. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Lady - 2015-11-28 2:09 PM
I bedded down my horse's run-in shelter with straw today. I've never used straw before, but I'm in this place for the first time this winter and it's starting to get cold so I thought I'd spread a bale out in there for her. She is eating it. There's a bunk of free-choice alfalfa right there, yet she still is eating it. I stayed in there with her for a few minutes when she went to check it out and was getting really irked that she'd try eating straw when there's alfalfa - not to mention what's leftover of her can of oats from this morning.
Do I need to be concerned? All I can think of is impact colic....
She could also be missing something in her diet.
Silica which according to Reva's Remedies founder is very important for horses to have, it helps with feet, coat, and even the hind gut. Oat straw has silica in it, and she actually uses oat straw in quite a few of her herb remedies. |
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Location: In my own little world | When temps drop into the single digits and below, we always throw out some straw bales for them to munch on and bed in. Never had a colic issue, helps keep them warm also keeps them full and they aren't lacking in anything. Just happy, healthy horses in the wintertime. |
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Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | We bale corn stalks after the corn is combined. We bed our cattle and horses with them.
My horses will eat a lot of the cornstalks.
I think they just like to have a change of diet sometimes. They just want to eat something differant.
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 Go Your Own Way
Posts: 4947
Location: SE KS | be careful that a wheat head with the wheat still intact is not baled in. The seed can swell in their stomach. We don't give straw to our horses. |
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 I Chore in Chucks
Posts: 2882
Location: MD | I liked it, it looked really nice and my boys laid down quite a bit when I used it. They also tried to eat it but quickly switched over to their nice hay when they realized it was way better. It was just so much to throw away, I felt very wasteful. I have messy horses on top of it and the smell builds up so quickly since they just LOVE to pee in their stalls vs outside... grr. I've had much better luck with the pelleted bedding, it lasts and absorbs the smells.
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 Veteran
Posts: 255
Location: Where Tall Corn Grows | Since we grow oats and have an abundance of oat straw. I choose not to use it because it’s a pain in the backside to pitch it out of the stalls. It’s not absorbent like woodshavings are and you definitely can’t pick your stalls with straw. You will have to strip them every time. If I could clean the stalls with the skidloader then I would probably use straw. If it’s the only option you have, then by all means use straw. A plus; you’ll be getting a good workout regularly .? |
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Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | Chicken Fried - 2015-12-01 2:25 PM
Since we grow oats and have an abundance of oat straw. I choose not to use it because it’s a pain in the backside to pitch it out of the stalls. It’s not absorbent like woodshavings are and you definitely can’t pick your stalls with straw. You will have to strip them every time. If I could clean the stalls with the skidloader then I would probably use straw. If it’s the only option you have, then by all means use straw. A plus; you’ll be getting a good workout regularly .?
Wow... this is 180 from my experience. Unless you are using green straw, it absorbs wonderfully.
1) Picking Straw 101: Remove the horse, bovine, goat,sheep,dog...
2) Pick a corner about 3X3 feet. Rake back everything in that corner. Remove anything wet. (I always take some sort of ((Garden Cart)) with me to hold everything that needs to be removed.)
At this point, we need to talk about the implement you are using... I use a pitch-fork. I prefer a 3 or 4 prong fork. anything more...(5 to 8 prong) is designed to move feed...hay or silage. You need to use the correct tool for the job you are doing.
I use the fork to drag everything off the top.... Mostly dry stuff... to the 3X3 spot... almost everything else is wet... I remove the wet straw, rake the dry straw over the cleaned area and add more...
3) I start with the piles of manure and work my way down. It has been my experience, most horses will pick a spot to deposit everything.... Some.... mostly mares... are not so particular.... Once a week you deep clean because even horses have accidents....
I need to say.... You can only pick a stall if you do it 3-5 times a day... If you only clean once a day.... You can't pick over something the horse has been walking on for 18-24 hours.
Edited by komet. 2015-12-01 3:25 PM
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