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Feeding straw to horses along side alfalfa hay in a snowy pasture.

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I Had to Feed Straw During a Hay Shortage & My Horses Benefited

Note from Monique: This fabulous story is reposted with permission by Lee McLean of Keystone Equine with interesting lessons for us all. Many would rarely consider straw as a viable option for feeding equines. In fact, it's unthinkable to most. Perhaps this firsthand experience will shift your perspective. Follow Lee on her Keystone Equine Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Facing A Hard Reality

What began as a hard reality due to our ongoing drought situation here in southern Alberta, has become a real boon. The hay supply was in no way near to meeting our demands and rather than somehow finance feed trucked from far away, we went to work with the small baler in a nearby barley field that had just been harvested.

So, feeling unhappy about the situation—feeling as though I was somehow letting my horses down—Mike and I began feeding equal parts homegrown alfalfa mix hay and barley straw, when the weather turned cold.

Differentiating Hay from Straw

Horse eating straw

Maybe I should start by differentiating hay from straw. They may look similar but have different compositions, appearances and traditionally, uses.

  • Hay is made of dried grass or legumes, while straw is made of grain stalks, left over after the seed heads have been harvested.
  • Hay is usually put up for animal feed, while low-nutrient straw is usually destined for bedding, compost, mulch and such things as erosion control.

Yes, the one is much more palatable than the other.

By the way, straw can be baled from combined barley, oat and wheat crops, though the latter, I am told by the older generation, is not as well-received by horses. Note that rye straw can contain ergot alkaloids, a toxic fungus, so is not advisable to use with horses.

What Happened When We Augmented with Barley Straw

This is the story of what we began to see happening, when we used barley straw to augment our hay.

At first, the horses turned up their noses at our offer of straw. While we introduced it gradually, its lack of taste and palatability paled in comparison to the rich, green chaff in our homegrown alfalfa. In a week or so, however, the horses began to change their minds about the value of the straw we were providing.

We’ve been feeding from our chore truck, with one bale of each on the deck. I cut the strings and while Mike drives (with the enthusiastic help of Pan, the Border Collie), I drop off small flakes of both hay and straw in a long line on the ground, for low-stress feeding. Of course, the horses immediately go straight for the hay.

After an hour or so of eating, they’ll have gone to the water trough and returned to the feeding area. Most will now lie down for a sleep. For the next twenty-four hours, they will come and go from the scattered straw, nibbling and picking as they wish. When we come out the next morning to feed—for we have now stopped feeding two or three times daily, due to their ability to continually pick—the horses will still be calmly munching, waiting for the morning’s feed.

The Surprising Benefits

This has had a number of surprising benefits.

1. My horses are never standing around, hungry.

They are constantly putting roughage into their systems and because we have nearby water, impaction is not a worry. They, themselves, introduced the straw gradually, though I would have done it for them, had they not. This is obviously a huge benefit for the horses prone to ulcers. I have found that the three horses whom I know for sure were ulcerative, are staying on the straw, picking quietly away, long after the others have gone out to pasture. This means that nobody is walking around on ‘empty’, at any time of the day.

If—nay, when—it gets colder, as in the –30C range, we will up our percentage of hay to straw by feeding a hay only meal before sundown.

2. The straw is low-sugar and low-calorie, allowing even my easiest keepers to chew and eat, without gaining any weight.

What a boon to horses who are insulin resistant, or to ponies who, traditionally, are kept on dry lots. We have made additional mineral available in the nearby salt bunk, which has ulcer preventative, loose and block salt, free-choice, as well. Our ‘hard doers’? Well, they are blanketed warmly in the cold weather, which means that they are no longer needing so many calories to keep warm. Their round-the-clock roughage is doing a good job of heating them from within.

3. My horses are calmer.

Straw requires much more chewing than does chaffy hay. The horses are busy, with their heads down, picking naturally. Straw is also a source of tryptophan, which is like drinking warm milk before bed. It is naturally calming, something I first found out when forty years ago, I was looking for something to relax and let down my off-track Thoroughbred.

4. They’re resting more.

Even the horses I seldom saw lying down really regularly, are nesting in the straw. This deep sleep can only be a good thing. We pick through the ‘bed’ on a regular basis, to keep the horses from eating where they make droppings. We’ve also been feeding in areas of the pasture where the soil is lean. This is nature’s way of fertilizing, provided that we harrow the area well, come spring.

5. With a constant source of roughage, nobody is chewing on my wood fences. Period.

6. The herd itself is so much calmer.

Even just before feeding, as we’re coming through the gate with the truck and the morning’s bales, nobody is rushing us. All the horses and ponies are quietly picking through yesterday’s straw for bits of hay. They’re not cold, even first thing in the morning. There is no bucking or kicking, and the ‘pecking order’ of resource guarding has lessened considerably, something that happens whenever we’re feeding horses in enclosed spaces.

7. It’s slowing down their rate of eating.

Even my food-obsessed ponies, who normally bolt their feed as fast as they possibly can, have begun to stop and rest during feeding. What used to take them half an hour to clean up is now taking an entire day.

8. Straw is a low-cost feed additive, as I live in a grain-growing area of the country.

If you’re from a place where combines aren’t a common sight during fall harvest, expect to pay as much or more for straw, as you would for hay. Supply and demand is always calling the shots.

9. Straw doesn’t blow away as readily as hay.

This means that we can throw out smaller ‘flakes’ on the ground—and not in a feeder—that allows the horses to pick and ‘graze’ in a natural manner. Their heads are down, which is important for their body wellness and for their teeth. Nor is straw as dusty, which is a real boon for the horses with breathing disorders, as opposed to feeding off a large hay bale.

10. The habits of the herd have changed.

Our horses are no longer standing around, waiting. They are either quietly picking through yesterday’s feed, or they’re at the salt box or the water trough. They’re checking out whatever is available in the winter pasture… or they come back to sleep and snack in the straw. There is no pacing, no whinnying for feed, no normal milling around. Chores have become a quiet ‘topping up’ of supplies, a low-stress, beautiful time for both the horses and their people.

I have added peace of mind, knowing that if ‘life gets lifey’ and I’m somehow detained, my horses won’t be fretting over a late feeding. Truly, they are only mildly interested when we go out in the mornings!

A bonus I've seen is that many horses are reluctant to urinate on icy or hard ground. This can't be good for them and I've been pleased to see their willingness to stale, whenever they rustle through the straw. As their bed builds up, we will stockpile it with the loader on the tractor to compost and feed the hayfield later on. This good farming only furthers our family's efforts to improve the hay and grassland that sustains our operation.

A Happier, More Relaxed Herd + More Straw in the Future

In the future, I will continue to offer straw to my horses year-round and not just in winter. The only drawbacks are lower calories and nutrients, to which I have taken measures, along with the risk of impaction colic, if not introduced gradually. I have been careful to address both concerns.

My herd is far happier and more relaxed, overall. I’m seeing nothing but positives after our decision to add straw to the daily ration of hay.

What started as a desperate measure will now likely be a permanent part of my horse-keeping… whether, or not, we have a good growing year.

Special thanks to Lee McLean of Keystone Equine for sharing her story and findings with us. Reposted with permission. Follow Lee on her Keystone Equine Facebook and Instagram accounts. 

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Monique Warren, Hay Pillow Founder with the Hay Pillow Slow Feeder product line - standard ground hay pillow, mini hay pillow, hanging hay pillow & horse trailer manger hay pillow

About the Author

Monique Warren invented the Hay Pillow® slow feeder and is the owner of Hay Pillow Inc. ​Warren has been an equine guardian for over forty years and slow-feed advocate for over 10 years. She contributes equine nutrition, digestive and hoof health articles to publications such as Equine Wellness, The Journal, The Naturally Healthy Horse, Natural Horse Magazine, Nicker News, The Horse's Hoof and Miniature Horse World Magazine. Equine nutrition and horses feet are her passions. She resides in Southern California.

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