What type of animals eat straw?
We feed straw to the vast majority of donkeys, mules, ponies and horses kept at The Donkey Sanctuary. Our animals are all housed in groups with free access to exercise areas as opposed to being kept stabled.
In terms of how much straw to feed your donkey, it needs to eat about 1.3–2 per cent of its body weight. Straw should be the main source of feed in the summer, making up approximately 75 per cent of all feed, and in the winter straw should be 50 per cent of a donkey's feed.
The use of straw is often reserved for laying bedding for farm animals but can be used as part of the diet for cattle or horses. However, straw is not recognised as a core component of a diet for livestock and should be limited, as it provides a poor nutrient profile.
As donkeys have a very high fiber, low sugar dietary requirement, straw makes a good basic feeding product.
Much of the nutrition in the grass is preserved in the hay, and it makes great feed for goats. Think of it as dehydrated pasture. It's usually grayish green and dull in color. Straw is the collection of stalks left over after grain kernels have been harvested for food.
Do horses eat straw? Although straw is often not the most palatable source of fibre, most horses will eat it, particularly if they are on a restricted diet. It can easily be mixed in with hay and soaked or steamed if necessary.
Equines bite within herds to establish dominance between individual animals and to maintain the pecking order. If your donkey has not accepted you as his undisputed leader, he may be inclined to try to bite you to establish his own dominance over you.
Almost any fruits, and many vegetables, are safe treats for healthy horses. Apples and carrots are traditional favorites. You can safely offer your horse raisins, grapes, bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe or other melons, celery, pumpkin, and snow peas.
Goats will eat hay, grasses, weeds, grain, and sometimes even tree bark! So, what do we actually feed the goats here at Zoo Atlanta? The main part of a goat's diet is called roughage. Roughage is usually grass or hay that is high in fiber and has relatively low calories.
Chickens don't eat straw - although they will pick the seeds or chaff or whatever it's called out of it.... What is this? And straw is SO much less dusty than shavings and drier than hay so it doesn't mold....and it's soft for the ducks and geese to sleep on, the chickens to walk on.
Can rabbits eat straw?
Straw is dried stalks from grain crops and is much more suitable for bedding as it is warmer and less likely to be eaten. It's not a problem if rabbits eat straw but there are few nutrients and they must be given good quality hay to eat.
Rye straw has little feed value. Straw can constitute up to about 60% of the brood-cow ration but has only about half the value of hay in growing rations. Straw can be used in combination with other feeds as the major roughage for beef cows. Grinding straw can increase intake 10-15%.
Barley hay should be fed with discretion, as it should not be given to horses with insulin resistance (IR) or equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). “As with other grain hays, barley hay is high in nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC), primarily because the grain attached to the plant,” said Crandell.
Donkeys do not need high levels of sugar in their diets. If in any doubt about the energy value or the quality of any feed, it is advisable to seek expert advice. Always provide a suitable balancer or mineral lick and permanent access to a clean water supply.
Avoid dusty or mouldy feeds. Access to an equine salt or mineral lick is advisable (avoid mineral licks designed for other types of livestock as they may contain inappropriate mineral levels).
For a pig, hay is a low-calorie meal, and they benefit best from leafy hay with some protein in the mix—legumes such as clover and alfalfa are great for growing pigs, so seek out hay with plenty of extras for your herd.
Hay is the most commonly used winter feed for beef cattle, but it's also the most expensive. Each cow requires a daily intake of 40 pounds of round-baled hay, which amounts to $1.61 if pricing hay at $80 per ton.
Timothy hay is recommended by many experts due to its ease on various animal's digestive system as well as promotion of bowel regularity. Additionally, there have been scientific studies done that show Timothy hay is an ideal feed for pregnant or lactating cows.
Straw Versus Hay
Hay is harvested while it is still a live, healthy plant. Straw is the dead stalks of plants after the valuable parts of the plants have been harvested. Hay provides a good nutritional value for animals who are going to be eating it, while straw provides little nutrition.
Parrot Drinks from a Straw - YouTube
Can monkeys use straws?
We tested five bonobos, five chimpanzees, and six orangutans in a task in which they had to use (and modify) a tool as a straw to drink the juice located inside a container. Experiment 1 showed that four orangutans and one chimpanzee invented the use of a piece of electric cable to get the juice.
Of all the various species of mammals, forty percent are rodents. Rats, mice, squirrels, guinea pigs… all of them have the same modus operandi. They gnaw their way into their food with self-sharpening chisel-like teeth.
Chickens don't eat straw - although they will pick the seeds or chaff or whatever it's called out of it.... What is this? And straw is SO much less dusty than shavings and drier than hay so it doesn't mold....and it's soft for the ducks and geese to sleep on, the chickens to walk on.
Straw is dried stalks from grain crops and is much more suitable for bedding as it is warmer and less likely to be eaten. It's not a problem if rabbits eat straw but there are few nutrients and they must be given good quality hay to eat.
Straw is digested at a slower rate than hay, so a cow can consume less straw (maximum 1.25% of her body weight) than hay (2-2.25% of her body weight) on a daily basis. Example: 1,200 lb. cow X 1.25 per cent = 15 lb. dry matter straw.
