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My Hay has THORNS :O

GrahamL

Wise Old Thumper
My latest bag of hay has some really nasty thorns in it :(

I put my hand in last night to get some out and got 3 thorns deep in my fingers!

Ripped the bag apart and there are LOADS of twigs covered in thorns in there :shock:

Bloody hurt!

Gotta throw this bag away and get some more now. Dagnammit and OUCH!

Also, guessing its second cut hay, as the strands are really short, does that normally make a difference to how its collected? never had this before.
 
My latest bag of hay has some really nasty thorns in it :(

I put my hand in last night to get some out and got 3 thorns deep in my fingers!

Ripped the bag apart and there are LOADS of twigs covered in thorns in there :shock:

Bloody hurt!

Gotta throw this bag away and get some more now. Dagnammit and OUCH!

Also, guessing its second cut hay, as the strands are really short, does that normally make a difference to how its collected? never had this before.

Oh Christ, how nasty! I'd complain to the brand that make it! They may give you special cut hay as a way of apologies. (Take a photo too if you can)
 
If it's just dried thistles the rabbits will love it.:D even if you don't.

We had a bale dropped of that was full of thistles was going to throw it away but the rabbits went mad on it, even though I was constantly having to de-thorn my hands.:roll::)
 
I think it is inevitable that this will happen from time to time as hay is a natural product after all and given that hay often comes compacted into bags nowadays, I find it easier to empty into another container so it's no longer compressed and minimises the risk of getting pricked or stung by the odd stray thorn or nettles, although the buns love nettles and I am sure dont spit them out in the wild :)
 
I've found docks, bramble, nettle etc in my hay from time to time. Nothing to do with the cut, just one of those things with a natural product - personally I'd rather be finding them than have the entire crop sprayed with herbicide ;)

My farmer does his best to pull most of the big docks (definitely ragwort) etc up by hand before harvesting but there is only so much a farmer can do before cutting the hay. Poorer areas of soil in the field will have more weed growth. Just one of them things. Hope your poorly prickled fingers recover soon :)
 
I think it's fabulous that your hay has thorns in it!
I bet the buns will love it!
I find thorns in hay all the time. Both buns and the horses scoff them right up!
 
Uh oh.

Guess who through the bag away? :oops:

I thought it was bad! lol How very embarassing.

I thought the thorns would have hurt the buns, so i tossed it all out and i've gone and got some fresh :oops:
 
Uh oh.

Guess who through the bag away? :oops:

I thought it was bad! lol How very embarassing.

I thought the thorns would have hurt the buns, so i tossed it all out and i've gone and got some fresh :oops:

Not all buns cope with thorns so if you don't know how your buns are with them it was sensible to remove them, I do.
Mine can't manage thorns at all, Poppy isn't too bad, quite dextrous with her lips, but Nino's wonky mouth and incisors means he struggles with normal food, let alone thorns, he can't bite things you see (except us :roll::lol:...but as they don't meet properly he can't let go very well so usually one has a rabbit attached to one's hand/arm!:lol:)
I always remove thorns from blackberry leaves and from hay before letting my buns have it so don't feel bad. :)
 
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