Any chopped grass forage of more than 65% neutral detergent fibre that is not a legume can have the same effect. This can include barley straw, oat straw or poor-quality ryegrass hay.

Planting in straw bales is a good idea because they usually drain exceptionally well. To start, buy oat straw bales, not grass and make sure they are straw and not hay which has many seeds.