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Booking up for a hard winter!

We've just been out and bought 3 bales of this year's hay. It's lovely. We couldn't get any new last year because it was too wet for the farmers to cut it. So the hay I've been using is two years old. I decided we needed to get fresh this year before it gets any later.
I buy three bales for 4 bunnies. that amount lasts me a year. It's £3 a bale this year.

 
We've just been out and bought 3 bales of this year's hay. It's lovely. We couldn't get any new last year because it was too wet for the farmers to cut it. So the hay I've been using is two years old. I decided we needed to get fresh this year before it gets any later.
I buy three bales for 4 bunnies. that amount lasts me a year. It's £3 a bale this year.


Crikey, I used to get through 3 bales a week at one time !! I am down to 3 bales a month now though ( for 4 Rabbits). Good in one way, sad in another.
 
Thats fab storage. I can only get one at a time. JJ how did / do you dispose of so much hay ?
 
These are tightly packed. I have fleeces in the hutches. I put hay in their snuggleboxes and hay in the littertrays. I used to use so much more but hubby said I was wasting so much and it was a lot of clean stuff going to the tip. So I've cut down a lot now. The buns are all nice and clean all the time and they eat loads, as well as the forages that I buy as extras. My buns have heating in their hutches which comes on if the temperature drops below 10 degrees. During the Foot and Mouth crisis I ran out and had terrible trouble finding some, as all the farmers were keeping their animals indoors and needed the hay. The chappie I buy from only grows to order for the horsey set over here and generally has some spare that I can have. We've even picked our own off the field when he's been baling.
 
That looks nice! There is loads of hay around but some is not good quality and is quite dusty. I was getting lovely coarse hay which the bunnies adored and it made gorgeous golden poos but sadly this year's stock went up in flames. The next best (or was) is not so nice this year so I am now getting mine from Trumor at £6.00 a bale. It's Meadow hay with no dust! The bunnies have got used to it now as they wanted their favourite coarse hay.
 
2 large bales are £6 here, and they last me ~6m between the two. Mine are greedy little blighters though :lol: I do remember it being £2.50 when we had Charlie (in Essex, 1988-1998) at the farm shop down the road, a bale would last us 2-3m (it was 'bedding' in those days ;P).
 
That looks nice! There is loads of hay around but some is not good quality and is quite dusty. I was getting lovely coarse hay which the bunnies adored and it made gorgeous golden poos but sadly this year's stock went up in flames. The next best (or was) is not so nice this year so I am now getting mine from Trumor at £6.00 a bale. It's Meadow hay with no dust! The bunnies have got used to it now as they wanted their favourite coarse hay.

Hi tonibun, I think 2 or 3 barns went up in smoke this year over here. During the school holidays again. We got this lot from Taggs again. We've been getting it from there since the foot and mouth. When we were desperate, years ago, Cooks Castle let us have some of hers. Taggs has never let us down though, since we discovered him. It's always lovely hay and really stays fresh.
 
2 large bales are £6 here, and they last me ~6m between the two. Mine are greedy little blighters though :lol: I do remember it being £2.50 when we had Charlie (in Essex, 1988-1998) at the farm shop down the road, a bale would last us 2-3m (it was 'bedding' in those days ;P).

Hi keletkezes, When we first kept bunnies 30 odd years ago hay was £1 a bale. Just for bedding, as you say. We've bought wheat tailings too. The bunnies love that.
 
Thats fab storage. I can only get one at a time. JJ how did / do you dispose of so much hay ?

The Council Tip will still accept it at the moment. I think that may be changing soon though as the tip is closing for a month as of this Sunday. Then when it re-opens the public can only use it at weekends.

So Fly Tipping which is already bad enough around here will no doubt get a lot worse. Add to that the rumours that the weekly bin collections are being cut to monthly ones and I forsee chaos.....................and a lot of very happy sewer Rats................
 
The Council Tip will still accept it at the moment. I think that may be changing soon though as the tip is closing for a month as of this Sunday. Then when it re-opens the public can only use it at weekends.

So Fly Tipping which is already bad enough around here will no doubt get a lot worse. Add to that the rumours that the weekly bin collections are being cut to monthly ones and I forsee chaos.....................and a lot of very happy sewer Rats................

don't get me on the subject of tips :lol: Our tip attendees think they are doing you a massive favour by allowing you to use the resources at all. Bet you were doing loads of tip runs when you had loads of bunnies
 
My inside trio go through an average sized bale every 5-6 weeks . They mainly drag it around the carpet
 
We've just been out and bought 3 bales of this year's hay. It's lovely. We couldn't get any new last year because it was too wet for the farmers to cut it. So the hay I've been using is two years old. I decided we needed to get fresh this year before it gets any later.
I buy three bales for 4 bunnies. that amount lasts me a year. It's £3 a bale this year.



I love your storage :thumb:

Great idea to get stocked up now!
 
don't get me on the subject of tips :lol: Our tip attendees think they are doing you a massive favour by allowing you to use the resources at all. Bet you were doing loads of tip runs when you had loads of bunnie[

I was on first name terms with the lads who work there !! One of them even gave me a Christmas Card one year :D I always gave them a big box of Biscuits and a huge jar of Coffee for the breaks.
 
How on earth do 3 bales last a year??! I have three rabbits and use a bale every 1-2 weeks!! Plus timothyhay.co.uk two 10kg a month!! They are cleaned out daily and litter trays are filled with bales hay, and topped up a few times a day. Even if I cut it right down, I couldn't make a bale last a month, never mind a year!!
 
How on earth do 3 bales last a year??! I have three rabbits and use a bale every 1-2 weeks!! Plus timothyhay.co.uk two 10kg a month!! They are cleaned out daily and litter trays are filled with bales hay, and topped up a few times a day. Even if I cut it right down, I couldn't make a bale last a month, never mind a year!!

Hubby is going to weigh one of my bales. They're baled up on a farm baling machine. They measure 4ft X 3 ft X 2 ft. I'l let you know the weight later.
 
Back again. The bales weigh minimum of 40 kilos each. We weighed the smallest one with the twine still round the bigger ones we took apart this afternoon to fit them in.
 
Hubby puts them in a wheelbarrow one at a time. Luckily they stay stuffed in the hayloft on top of the hutch. We just cut the baler twine and I pull out handfuls when I clean out. It smells fabulous. My hutch is insulated all over the walls with polystyrene. Stays cool in summer and warm in winter. The hay stays really fresh.
 
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