So does anyone have a homemade solution I can spray on the straw to keep the horses from eating the straw? RapLast gets expensive for 7 horses. This last batch of straw the horse LOVE to eat for some reason. We would prefer they ate the hay.
There are a number of pet safe no-chew sprays for dogs that usually contain a type of hot pepper. Maybe Google a homemade version of that - though, for a horse it might need to be stronger. Imagine its pretty cheap to make. (We used it for a puppy and it worked well - I bought it though, not homemade).
Why can’t they eat the straw?
I think it’s more common here, and around Europe in general, but people actually feed straw, especially in the winter. Or they eat some of their straw bedding and it’s fine. Usually it’s fed in combination with hay. The few times that my horse was bedded in straw he would always choose his hay over the straw, but may try a nibble or two.
Is the hay quality ok? I’ve know dozens of horses bedded on nice straw, but they almost always eat their hay over the straw.
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I can’t imagine a spray on treatment would be more cost effective than just letting them eat it.
I am surprised at the cost of straw in my area; I would never use it for bedding unless I had no other choice.
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Straw can be really high sugar, which is why sometimes they hoover it up, and yeah, because of it’s high indigestible fiber content, that can end up being a problem.
I can’t imagine anything economical you can spray on that would actually do anything.
Agreed with everyone else that a spray doesn’t sound super effective. I feel like it would just wipe itself off from the horse moving around. If you really don’t want them eating the straw, switch to a different bedding.
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In our area switching to a different bedding is not cost effective as you then need to pay to have a dumpster brought in for manure removal. The mushroom farms come remove straw manure piles for free. Spreading the manure pile on the fields or composting it is not viable at this farm.
The hay is nice quality. For some reason they seem to really like this batch of straw more than prior shipments. The horses all eat out of slow feed hay nets but have been for almost 2 years and prior to this most of them have not been interested in eating the straw. There are 2 that have occasionally nibbled on it. Now it is all 7 of them.
No ideas, just another concern with pepper or any other spray: with them walking around in the straw, wouldn’t the spray end up on their legs? Then what when they rub their faces on their knee? I’d be worried about them getting the spray in their nose & eyes. Just thinking out loud…
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Sounds like you just got a tasty batch of straw easier for them to get to than nice hay in a slow feeder. If you take the slow feeding hay bags away and just put the hay on the ground, will they still prefer the straw? If not, just ditch the slow feeder hay bags until you get your next (hopefully not as tasty) batch of straw in. Spraying pepper all over their bedding sounds crazy to me.
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I would not spray the hay. It will burn their skin if they lay in it.
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I would take the hay out of the hay nets, to start. See if that makes a difference. Right now the straw is much easier to access than the hay, and horses like to choose the path of least resistance.
I used to live in that area, and understand the convenience of straw and the inconvenience of shavings. Ours would eat the straw sometimes, but never enough for it to be problematic. Their straw eating definitely varied from batch to batch- not being a straw eater myself, I can’t say why :lol:I would definitely not recommend spraying the straw with anything. At best, it is expensive; at worst, it is a potential irritant and could cause injury.
I don’t think taking it out of the slow feeders would work. My horse was eating the straw and had a fresh flake of hay under his slow feeder and still preferred the straw.
They do seem to be slowing down on how much they are eating the straw. Maybe it was the novelty.
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