Anyone used or heard of Oat Hay?????

[Rauchmini's]

I ahve a friend that is 75 and he swears by feeding bales of oats as hay, it look like straw almost when bailed, when he opened a bail for me to see he threw some on the ground and you should have seen the horses go after it, never have I seen a horse get so excited over hay. Is it safe, anyone use it?

 

[Jill]

The lady who keeps my big horses gave it to the biggies for a short period of time and yes, they went nuts for it. However, it was so coarse / straw like that I would be scared to feed it to minis. It didn't look like it would taste good but the biggies ate every scrap.

 

[Minimor]

It's nice enough feed....for big horses. We fed some the one year when we had only the Morgans, no minis. The thing is, they go for the oat heads & leave the stem & leaves portion, so you have to be sure & give them only the exact amount that they need to eat, & then they have to eat the entire thing.

I was offered some this fall, but I said no, I didn't feel it was suitable for our Minis. They'd go for the oat heads, of course, but the stalks & leaves would just be too coarse for them.

It does pay, too, to get green feed (that's what "oat hay" is generally called here, though of course green feed can also be barley &/or millet) tested. Green feed is very common as cattle feed here; two years ago the cattle that were being fed a lot of green feed really lost weight--the feed just did not have any nutrients in it; it looked ideal, but really wasn't.

 

[runamuk]

If I can find true oat hay nice and green and soft with a fresh smell I will feed it to the mini's in the depths of winter as filler.......it gives them something to do and is helpful in keeping weight on when the pastures turn to tundra

but I also will continue to feed regular rations of alf/grass hay and regular grain.........

 

[Robin_C]

Oat hay is fine to feed to most horses, though as mentioned before it is quite coarse in its mature state. The biggest issue with oat hay is that it is FULL of sugar and starch (especially when seed heads are present) -- which is why horses are so crazy about it. Therefore caution should be exercised when feeding it to minis who may already be a little roly-poly.

Robin C

 

[littlearab]

Yes I have oats hay.Out of the 3,000 to 4,000 bales of hay we put up each summer,around 500 -1000 big round bales are oats hay every year. It has to be put up at just the right time, when it's still very leafy and green ,but has headed out. But we do not feed it to horses bigs or littles, it is very rich hay.

Our oats when combined run about 70 -100 bu. to the acre. It comes off at around 15 bales to a acres,, just think how much grain is in that hay. Yup horses do love it. But they could also founder on it very easily.

No oats hay, milt or pure alflfa hay for any horses on my place. Good up land grass hay..or alfalfa/grass mixed.

Oats hay is very good hay for cattle and we also feed them the straw. But we do not feed it to horses at all.

 

[Hosscrazy]

Oat hay is extremely popular out here. It's mostly green, smells sweet, and has some straw-looking pieces in it.

As Robin mentioned above, it's high in sugar and starch and I'm slowly taking my guys off the oat hay and transitioning over to grass hay. I have 1 1/2 bales of the oat hay left, and then I'm off it for good.

I had the oat hay tested - the NSC (non-structural carbs) came in at 23%. The grass hay I'm moving over to is around 12%-15%. Much better for my guys.

Liz R.

 

[disneyhorse]

Oat hay is fed a lot out here in southern California.

I find that horses prefer "dry farm" oat hay as opposed to irrigated oat hay... the "dry farm" hay has purple veins running thru the gold hay and is MUCH sweeter (i've tasted it) and the irrigated oat hay tends to have lots of green running thru the gold hay.

It is very starchy/sugary but is stemmy... it's a good "busy hay" for big horses, as they will spend lots of time picking thru it rather than just wolfing thru the flake.

I wouldn't recommend it for minis if you have a good grass hay available instead.

Andrea

 

[Tommy]

We used to feed the "beardless" variety to our quarter horses, but I wouldn't feed it to miniatures.

Tommy

 

[Rauchmini's]

Ok so it is to rough and harder for a mini to digest is that why you should not feed it to one? the kind he has looks like staw in color, not green at all. They were chowing down on it. Now I thought Hmm if they like it so well maybe I will get some, the drought hit us HARD here, I have about 200 bales of hay left but I cannot find anymore first cutting and we will need some more and the quality for second cutting is terrible lots of weeds, I thought this might be a alternative.

 

[kaykay]

i wouldnt feed it. its a very hot feed

 

[Margaret]

I have recieved burmuda grass hay with pieces of oat hay in it one year, My horses ate every bite... Since it was primarily burmuda based -I went back to get more but it was gone. It turned out that the field was planted with some oat hay and it was accidentialy mixed. I must add that it is so tastful to them, that I would have been reluctant to free feed.

 

[wpsellwood]

Has anyone used it for pasture? I was thinking of planting that as we live in arrid Colorado and oat grass always pops up everywhere a oat kernal lands. Anyone have any experience with that?????

 

[littlearab]

No do not plant oats for pasture.

 

[wpsellwood]

Need a reason not to please.

 

[littlearab]

The same reasons not to feed oats hay only more so. It does grow most any where, your horses will not eat it all when it is small, and will be eating lots of just the grian,and what they do not eat it will go to seed, so more oats will grow. You could end up with alot of foundered and sick horses... if your lucky. Dead ones if your not lucky, if they colic.

The idea that is grows so fast and well, one would think it would make good pature. But it does not.... it will either grow too well or die out. .much better to plant grass. It will take longer to grow but will be much better in the long run.

 

[Hosscrazy]

They were chowing down on it.

That's because it's high in starch & sugar (usually 23% NSC - non-structural carbohydrates). It's the "candy" version of hay!

I do know quite a few people in my area that feed it to their horses, including minis. But as I mentioned, it is very high is starch & sugar - something I prefer to stay away from.

Liz R.

 

[wpsellwood]

Yeah grass would be ideal but when you leave in practically a desert which has been in a drought for the past 7 years and the water in the well is low. Not much chance of getting grass to grow. Maybe it will rain next year!

Thanks for your answer though, never had a problem with the large equine so wanted something more specific. Thanks again

 

[delia]

Let's see? It has been about 10 years now but I will try and remember what my vet said. He said "If it has had frost or drought it can cause trouble in pregnate mares!" I haven't fed any since as I always have a mare or two in the mix.

I feed alfalfa/grass mix. When the hay dealer saw our little 30-35 lb bales of grass hay, he laughed and then said he could get 7.00 a bale at the coast. He said it was what most of the horse people are begging for! We get our alfalfa/grass mix from him.