What is the difference between straw and hay?

[vikkia1234]

I have been given a load of straw from a relative for guinness, What is the difference between feeding rabbits straw or hay?

 

[Sooz]

Straw has a low fiber and nutrient content. Its a bedding (hollow so a great insulator) not a feed.

 

[abbymarysmokey]

Hay is dried grass. Straw is the stalk from wheat after it has been harvested.

 

[vikkia1234]

so i still need to use hay for him to eat as well as the straw.

Thanks

 

[Graeme27Uk]

so i still need to use hay for him to eat as well as the straw.

Thanks

Yeh, mine eat both straw and hay... but the intention is that they eat a lot more hay...

If only bunnies did as they were told.

 

[capel]

Yes, straw is for bedding and hay is for eating

 

[bunny babe]

So, is it OK for them to eat straw? Would it help their teeth? I was just reading this and thinking I have never tried Homer on straw and he refuses hay.

(Sorry to butt in)

 

[Sooz]

It wont do any harm but it wont do a lot of good either. Hay is important not just for teeth wear but for its high fiber content, vital for healthy gut motility.

Straw has a lower fiber content.

I would not advocate the feeding of straw to replace hay in the diet.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Wheat straw has a high fibre content. Its indigestible fibre thats important for Buns and wheat straw has about 50% indigestible fibre.

Janex

 

[Sooz]

Wheat straw has a high fibre content. Its indigestible fibre thats important for Buns and wheat straw has about 50% indigestible fibre.

Janex

Thats no good for bedding though is it, because its not soft?

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Thats no good for bedding though is it, because its not soft?

No not for bedding but fine for eating

Janex

 

[Graeme27Uk]

What exactly is Timothy Hay???

If I go to the farm shops will they do Timothy hay or Meadow hay or something else.... will they even know the difference?

 

[Tempest]

Wheat straw has a high fibre content. Its indigestible fibre thats important for Buns and wheat straw has about 50% indigestible fibre.

Janex

So you'd say a sign of healthy gut movements would be seeing poos made mostly up of bits of hay? Sorry to ask on another persons thread, but it seems relivant to what they are asking about

 

[Sooz]

So you'd say a sign of healthy gut movements would be seeing poos made mostly up of bits of hay? Sorry to ask on another persons thread, but it seems relivant to what they are asking about

Large, crumbly and light in colour is a healthy poo! You can usually see bits of hay in the surface.

So wheat straw for eating and barley straw for bedding. I cant believe I chucked away a whole bale of wheat straw because it was too hard for bedding.

 

[babybunnies3]

Treacle likes straw almost as much as hay, when I fill their bed up (with straw) she will drag some out and sit munching it :roll:

 

[Graeme27Uk]

Yep. Mine do this too.... I might get some wheat straw so they much that as well.

 

[Graeme27Uk]

Now I am a bit confused...

http://www.johnpile.co.uk/john-pile-feeds.php

According to this website which was the place I used to get stuff for my rabbits from Wheat Straw is bedding not roughage.

Can rabbits eat Bran? Thats high in fibre.

What about Oat or Barley straw? Are they roughage (as stated) or bedding?

 

[Wispa & Zola]

i gave Wispa straw as bedding in her carrier and she just ate it. i read somewhere that straw is a good treat for them. i guess thats if you define treat as does nothing for digestion!

 

[sarattie]

crikey, im confuzzled just reading this post!!!

With all this in mind, Id just give them a selection of both!! I cant see it doing any harm....

I buy a selection of hays and offer a different one each day. I dont use straw at all.. seeing as Harveys a house bun he has vet bed... including in his hutch as he's only out in his hutch on warmer days if we are out at work all day,..

 

[Leanne]

What about Oat or Barley straw? Are they roughage (as stated) or bedding?

All three types of straw won't do any harm if they munch it, we have the same probs with horses eating their bedding too!

As already said, don't replace hay with ANY straw but its fine if they munch it, just won't have much positive effects. You may find that if a bun that doesn't eat hay starts to eat straw and you start to mix the hay in slowly, you may be able to wean them onto just hay

Meadow hay is from a field sown with a meadow mix which is various grasses and native flowers/some herbs where as timothy hay should predominately be made up of timothy grass and other grasses and flowers/some herbs.
Depends where you buy it though as some places you will get pure timothy hay and others you will get other species of grass and flowers mixed in, I would always go for the mix as a monocultured field of timothy hay with NO other species in it makes me think they must use weed killer to kill anything else that starts to grow. There is no way a whole field can just have timothy hay without some kind of pesticide/herbicide etc.