Eating Hay Question

[Leeana]

I've noticed lately that Coco is eating the hay in his stall. I tried changing to saw dust but it was to messy and he ate it and was always sneezy bc he would inhale it. So we changed back to Hay. I feed him enouph, and if he for some reason is in the stall all day bc its raining (usually he is out picking grass all day w/ our cows) i usually make sure to give him some alphalfa to eat.

Is him eating hay okay? My dad told me it could cause him stomach aches but i dont know wether to beleive him or not bc sometimes my dad likes to act like he knows everything and expects me to beleive it like i did when i was 4 ....17 now. lol.

Please help. Thankx

 

[Sonya]

Do you mean hay or straw? He is suppose to eat hay. If you are talking about straw, I would remove it and try some pine woodchips for bedding..not near as dusty as sawdust.

 

[Leeana]

Stray ...im sorry. my mistake. I had a hard busy day ...give me a while. lol

 

[Minimor]

We use straw for bedding, and our horses always pick through and eat some of it. We don't have a problem with that--in fact, when we get new straw that's especially nice (clean, soft with a bit of green and maybe some oat or barley heads in it) we say oh good, the horses will love this! We put it in for bedding & they can hunt through it and eat what they want--gives them a bit of filler without putting weight on them, plus picking through it gives them something to do.

We've never had a horse eat so much of it that it did them any harm, and have never had colic because of it.

 

[Leeana]

Thats how our straw is. Its got some that is a little green. He doesnt eat all of it. I mean i dont put down new hay at night and wake up and go down to the barn and its gone. Its just when he picks through it he gets more yellow then green.

So it can hurt him ..but it should be okay as long he isnt eating way to much?

 

[Minimor]

Well, I wouldn't like to see one of ours eat a whole bale in one evening, if that happened I'd be a little concerned that it might get him all bunged up, but like I said, ours never eat that much. And yes, they do eat the yellow straw too. Heck, ours will even munch down some of the really dry wheat straw (we prefer oat or barley straw but do sometimes have to take wheat straw if that's all we can get) that doesn't look like it would be at all worth eating.

So no, I wouldn't worry at all about your boy eating straw as he is.

Actually, one winter when good hay was a little scarce, we were feeding alfalfa cubes and oat straw for evening feed--what little bit of straw the horses left we put in for bedding. Had no problems whatsoever, and the horses did eat a fair bit of straw that way.

 

[midnight star stables]

ok its buging me it is straw.. noy hay.. hay is food & straw is bedding(usally)..

please use the right word please

thanks so much! no we won't get so

!

des

 

[Miniv]

Would like to know what kind of straw bedding and what kind of sawdust bedding you were using? Some horses are prone to eating certain kinds of both.

Perhaps if you changed to a different kind of bedding. There are processed beddings available that a "munch-mouth" wouldn't be so apt to go for.

MA

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Oat and Barley straw are fine to be eaten- not wheat, which I will not use, as a lot of horses cannot digest wheat and there is always a small amount of grain in the straw. My horses always have a slice of straw in their mangers, under the hay, so if they do get through it all they still have something clean to munch on. To a horse it matters nothing that they have had the requisite amount of hay- their instincts tell them that if they are not chewing they are hungry!! A horse without something to munch on is a horse looking for something unacceptable - like wood, to chew.

 

[Sonya]

When you say "straw" I think of the bright yellow stuff that is very course. That's the kind of straw we have here, it is not green at all and I would not want my horses eating that. What is the benefit of using it for bedding?...I can see in the winter months it would be warmer, but isn't it hard to pick?

 

[Margaret]

I would be just a tad uncomfortable seeing my mini eating straw... My first thought would be , he is confused ..he thinks this is food... So I would make sure that when he goes in the stall that their is some fresh "grass hay"in a feeding bin, there as well, so he will much on the "preferred source"...Otherwise if this is not possible I would get a different type of bedding....

 

[Minimor]

You're not implying, I hope, that because our horses eat straw....they are not fed well enough?

If so, then you are sadly mistaken! Our horses are fed too well. But, horses do just like straw...horses here can be eating a nice fresh pile of hay outside at the feeder, and they see me take a load of straw into the shed, and next thing there they are in the shed, hunting up all the tasty bits of straw to eat. They go back to their hay later...

And Sonya, no, I don't find the straw bedding hard to pick out at all.

 

[Margaret]

I am sure that some straw (since there is more than one type) can be eaten Minimor, but ours is not the eating type, where we are located..... It is thick and dry and intended for bedding only. I have read threads about horses having digestive problems connected with eating straw.... All I am saying is until she inspects her source of straw, to determine its digestability, perhaps an alternative grass food source would be a safe measure for her to offer...

 

[Tabitha]

I am sure that some straw (since there is more than one type) can be eaten Minimor, but ours is not the eating type, where we are located..... It is thick and dry and intended for bedding only. I have read threads about horses having digestive problems connected with eating straw.... All I am saying is until she inspects her source of straw, to determine its digestability, perhaps an alternative grass food source would be a safe measure for her to offer...

Then, Margaret, you should be more specific....it did sound like you were suggesting that eating straw meant insufficient food...Actually the original poster did already say that her straw was quite nice, by implication not the real coarse, dry variety

in fact, when we get new straw that's especially nice (clean, soft with a bit of green and maybe some oat or barley heads in it)....

Thats how our straw is. Its got some that is a little green.

She did also say her horse gets enough to eat....alfalfa hay, grass hay, whichever, you can argue that grass hay is better, and while I do feed mostly grass hay there are times when I prefer alfalfa for some horses.

Sometimes, yes, horses do eat straw that they wouldn't normally eat, and only because they are hungry. Sometimes these horses will also eat shavings if that's all that's available. I'd personally rather they eat straw--even coarse straw--rather than shavings, not that my horses have ever eaten their straw bedding because they were actually hungry, I generally feed too much, not too little

I've never actually known a horse have problems from eating straw, though I do know of a Mini or two that have died from impaction due to wood shavings....I've also seen threads about horses having digestive problems from alfalfa, from bermuda hay, from brome hay....

 

[Leeana]

Sorry about the whole straw/hay mix up ...my bad. I always called it hay ...explains all the weird stares i have gotten in the past. lol.

I use the really yellow straw. Sometimes its got some green in it but usualy its just yellow. I know its not that we dont feed him enouph bc god knows we do. His diet is pretty strick and healthy. I think its just that he is getting bored and feels like eating. Probaly just confused. Im going to try getting some of this 'drystall' pellets to use instead. Its not really hard cleaning up the straw at all. I think thought that Drystall would be the best product to get. Bit I would rather have coco healthy then with a stomach ache. Thank you guys.

...agian sorry about the whole straw/hay thingy. I cant get it out of my head ..i just had to go back and fix like 3 words in that paragraph. lol