Hay Types

[TheThreeB's]

Hi all,

This might be a long shot but ....

Normally I buy Western Oxbow Timothy Hay, I've always found it to be great quality.

As we now have a new addition (so four buns) and the hay was about to run out, my dh suggested buying the hay they sell in our local greengrocers. I don't like it at all and wondered if it's even okay to give them. It's not luscious at all and quite dried out looking.

What do you think? I've ordered our regular hay to come tomorrow, but at £30 for a large bag, it is very expensive.

Thanks in advance x

 

[daphnephoebe]

Doesn't look like great quality. Maybe a type of meadow which is normally okay. But I think it's getting toward the batches they'd have harvest so quality sometimes get worse I think?

Maybe you could try ordering Deans meadow hay? It's a good quality one that my girls love (they're super fussy) and it's a good price too. £6 for a large bag at my local shop.

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[Zoobec]

Looks like standard meadow hay to me, does it smell ok - not musty/dusty etc? I go on the smell as much or more than the looks of it. I used to spend a fortune on hay when I had 5 rabbits, and one day when their usual stuff ran out I gave them some of the baled meadow hay that I had for the goats. I get it from an agricultural supplies place. So long as it's horse quality it's fine. The rabbits absolutely loved it and I never went back to the expensive stuff again. Sometimes as it gets older it looks more like that but they still love it. A bale would last ages, and it's so much cheaper :thumb:

 

[TheThreeB's]

Thank you, I'll keep an eye on what the new bun thinks of it. It does smell pretty good, just doesn't look it.

The others still have some of the Timothy left for now.

My dh says I'm a hay snob :lol: x

 

[Shimmer]

Any hay in stock now is likely to be the end of last year's harvest, so it will not be the best ever but should still be OK - not too dusty and should smell OK - definitely not musty or mouldy. That's what hay was designed for, after all. The first cut of this year has just been done in a few fields round here but I haven't seen it in the suppliers yet. There didn't seem to be much of a harvest. The second cut should be better.

Bales of hay (NOT haylage) from a farm or horse supplier will be much cheaper and of good quality in general. I pay £5.50 a bale, which just fits in a 240 litre wheely bin.

 

[TheThreeB's]

Thank you, it probably is fine then, just different to what I'm used to x