Hay from farm

[Maureen Las]

I have always bought processed hay from oxbow, Kleenmama. Kaytee etc.

Ihave a friend here in La Crosse who has 9 rabbits. She gets her hay from a farm near here in La Crosse. The hay is called grass hay and I guess the farmer sells it to horse owners also. We went out there to get it today and he had taken it from an indoor shed and placed 5 bales on the the snowy ground for us to pick up.
One of the bales is mine.
I just took an entire bale of hay apart in my kitchen examining it. it bothered me that some of the bales were sitting for a few hours on the snowy ground . Wouldn't that create mold???

It has clover in it which I think I should pick out??? What else should I pick out.
it has other unidentifiable leaves in it (weeds) etc. and it has long stemmed grass. it looks and smells good, however , I am afraid ot feeding it to my rabbits because it has not been processed.
can someone help me who also doesn't get processed hay?

 

[Pipp]

I'd either re-package the top 7/8 of the bale and throw the bottom layer (flake) out if you've got a ton and it's cheap.

Or just turn it over and put a hair dryer on the bottom.

It takes quite a while to go moldy, it would have to sit there with the wet stuff compacted without much ventilation before it gets yucky. And it's very apparent when it is moldy. It stinks!

I give my guys a ton of the stuff everyday, and I don't put them in the position of having to eat every last strand, so they pick out the good stuff, which is usually 9/10 of what I give them. I find by throwing small handfuls on top every day, they eat more that they would if I put it in a rack and let them eat every piece -- although that's fine too.

No problems with the clover or anything else in there, really. As long as they have enough, they can pick through it.

I seriously have no idea how people manage just buying those dinky little bags. I like keeping at least a couple full bales around.


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Pipp]

PS: This is THE best hay article I've seen, even though it's meant for horses.

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/Ext/forages/publications/ID-190.htm

Check it out!


sas :bunnydance:

 

[Maureen Las]

Oh SAS THANK YOU SOMUCH

I realize that I am terrified of something natural. I am testing it on 2 rabbits to see if anything happens

Nothing ever happened to my friends rabbits but I am so goofy ...................:biggrin2:
The good thing about this hay is that it has absolutely 0 dust whichI am not used to

i am used to mucho dustin oxbow but Kleenmama's was good

Iwill read the horse hay article more thoroughly

If ordered 50 lb of hay from oxbow cost me $50.00 with shipping which is more than the hay... then if I order different kinds of hay cost me more..I spend a fortune on hay for 7 rabbits

Ipaid $3.00 for bale

 

[Pet_Bunny]

Pipp wrote:

I seriously have no idea how people manage just buying those dinky little bags.

I am starting to call them designer bags because you pay a premium pricefor them.

It's great you found a source to get bales of hay. I get mine from a breeder who loads her vanup every time she goes out and she doesn't mind if I geta balefrom her. Everybale ofhay is different, but the bunnies love them. Pebbles and Bebe started to eat more hay now than before. And I think they are gaining weight from it. In a post by Pipp, about the different foods causing weight gain, I cut back on the pellets, give very few vegs, when the bunnies started to eat the bales of hay, they have maintained or gained weight. :shock: Oh, the hay has no alfalfa, but there is clover, weeds and thick stocks in the hay. The bale I have now is very dusty, but they love it, and I just sweep away and throwout the fine particles.

 

[Maureen Las]

I was thinking that they are getting more variety in a hay like this because it is not all one type...
since Pipp postedI gave it to all of them and they seem to really like it

this is a case where I feel that if I paid a fortune for the other hay they should likethe expensive stuff better....

 

[CorkysMom]

I use something very similar. I go thru about a bale a month so there is no way I could afford it elsewhere. They seem to do fine on it, if there is something they don't like, they don't eat it and I just toss it.

Been working well for about 3 years now!

$3.00 a bale is dirt cheap, I paid $5 this last spring. I buy approx 20 bales at a time and stack it on pallets in my garage.

 

[gentle giants]

I have always used "farm" hay, bought by the bale from farmers in my area. And I have found it to be far better than the "store" hay that I occasionally get donated to me. My rabbits that are used to the baled hay won't even touch the store bought bagged stuff.

Don't worry, Angieluv, the hay won't mold just from sitting on the ground for a little while, it actually doesn't mold that easily. There's no need to pick out the clover either, rabbits love clover. It's just the same as what you can pick in your yard, just dried, LOL. They will pick that out and eat it first.


I just bought five bales at $6 each, which I thought was a rather outrageous price, but it was really good hay, so at least I got what I paid for, LOL.

 

[Maureen Las]

I'm starting to feel a lot better about this hay...

 

[pherber12]

Same here. I get my hay from the barn where my sister boards her horse. Roxy likes it and it's super cheap. I paid $3 for a bale.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

gentle giants wrote:

I just bought five bales at $6 each, which I thought was a rather outrageous price, but it was really good hay, so at least I got what I paid for, LOL.

I think my breeder pays $6, $7, or $8 for a bale of hay, depending on the quality. She never charged me for the hay yet. Pebbles and Bebe loves the cheapest ones with all the clover, weeds and stocks. Bebe will eat anything but Pebbles has turned her noseon Oxbow.

 

[tonyshuman]

my concern is that most farmers here will not sell to someone who only wants 40-50lbs at a time, and i don't have a garage or anything to store it in.

 

[dquesnel]

tonyshuman wrote:

my concern is that most farmers here will not sell to someone who only wants 40-50lbs at a time, and i don't have a garage or anything to store it in.

I don't either as I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, but I do have storage space. I find if I lop off the top two flakes on the bale I can *just* squish it into storage! You can probably appeal to the farmers anyway, especially if you are picking the hay up from them, but I doubt they would turn down a small sale from you.

Sometimes my bale of hay is a bit damp when I buy it, since that is the climate I live in. I was assured that it was shipped and stored dry, basically until the point that it was removed for sale. That same bale was very very much enjoyed by the buns, as others say they pick through the good stuff and the chances of them actually CHOOSING to eat mold are probably not going to happen, lol.

Moldy hay smells like wet dog/socks. It is really, really hard to not notice.

 

[Pet_Bunny]

@Tonyshuman... Would you be able to share with some if you could split it up? Some farmers would sell 1 bale. It's more likely for someone to buy several at a time because of the time and effort to drive out toa farm for hay.

Three flakes of haywill fit in an apple box.

The next time I would get 2 bales. One for Luvabun, and one for me to split up and give out to other bunny owners that I know.

 

[delusional]

When I started looking for farmers to get hay from, instead f buying it from pet shops, I had loads of them tell me that they wouldn't sell just a couple of bales at a time.

Then I found one who would, and honestly, all the hard work and phoning around was worth it. My hay is generally a lot greener than pet-shop-hay, I don't have to go out for it two or three times a week (more like once in 4-6 weeks), and the bunnies love it so much more!

I still buy bits of timothy and other interesting hays and mix them up and hand a pile out once a week (I call it my 'gourmet hay day'.. ) to keep things interesting, but I haven't touched the big bags of meadow hay for around a year (give or take..)

I store it in duvet covers, to keep it tidy and stop it going everywhere, and also because that keeps it ventilated.

 

[werecatrising]

Everybody talking about buying hay from farmers has me confused. Doesn't just about everywhere have feed stores? The feed stores her have barns full of hay. They don't care if you buy a bale at a time.

 

[Maureen Las]

Here in southwest Wi the feed stores don't have barns full of hay......

never heard of it actually :?

 

[swanlake]

I am jealous!

I have looked for farm hay, but can't find any near me.

I know my buns like the bulk hay I get from Sweet Meadow WAY better than the stuff I used to get in bags at the pet store. They eat more hay now than they have ever before.

 

[Maureen Las]

OK I have this huge concern about my farm hay...

There is quite a lot of red (purple)clover in thehay. I can tell by the dried flowers. Now the rabbits really like it but I looked up the calcium content of clover and it is only slightly lower than alfalfa.
So if we aren't supposed to feed alfalfa to an adult thenwhy would we let themeat that much calcium from clover?
Since I live in the midwestern part of the US this is probably the white and purple clover that grows wild everywhere/????

 

[naturestee]

A little clover is ok. If there's a lot then I pick it out.