Looking for good hay in Greater Vancouver area...

I've been buying my hay from the Otter Co-op (they sell 5 lb. bags of hay forsmall animals for $4). In the summer, the hay was excellent: nice and green, long pieces, not a lot of dust, etc.But as it's progressed into fall, the hay quality hasbeen getting worse and worse and our allergies have beengetting worse and worse along with it. My house is dustier than it's ever been!

I'd look into a buying a bale, but I haven't anywhere to store it, aside from outside,and I'd worry about moisture getting in and spoiling the hay.

Any suggestions as to where I can find better hay?

Thanks!

Rue

I have bought hay from Vanderveen's in Langley before, they always have lovely hay.

I store my extra hay in a deck bin outside. In three years I have never had it go bad. I can fit about a bale and a half in the bin. I put the bin up against the house so it doesn't get that much rain and it has worked wonderfully.

I just moved to Maple Ridge, and found a nice local hay dealer here. I am about 1/3 of the way through a bale I bought from them and it is wonderfully fresh and green.

Where abouts in the lower mainland are you? Depending on the city you live in, you'll have some different options.

-Dawn

By deck bin, do you mean one of those big Rubbermaid containers? I was wondering if one of those would work. I've got a carportwhere I could probably make some space to store it.

I don't like to post my exact location on theforums, buthow much does thedealer you're using in Maple Ridge charge?Do they sell just one bale? And how can I contact them?

Thanks!

Rue

I store my hay in the garage, but it doesn't sound like you have one. I only have the bales I am not using in there. I have a large rubbermaid bin that I can fit a bale in and I keep that in the house. I have a small bin that holds 1 flake for day to day use.
If you do store it outside, it does need to be covered, but still allow for air flow.

Thanks, Kate.

Unfortunately, I don't have room for a binlarge enough to store a whole bale inside the house. I barely have the space to store the garbage-sized bag of hay I do buy for him! But I'm thinkingif I got a big bin for the carport, and then a smaller bin for inside, along with a hay rack for Gus (still looking for a good hay rack! ), that would help contain the hay and, hopefully,help alleviate some of our allergies.

Now just to find some good fresh hay to put into them!

Rue

The place in Maple Ridge is along old dewdney trunk road called the Hay Hut. I can get you the number if you would like to check them out. He charges $14 for a bale (about 60 pounds I think).

Yes, I used a large Rubber Maid bin designed for sitting outside, called a deck box. Here is a link to the one I have:
http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?Prod_ID=rp091377

Anything similar would work too, shop around and see if you can find something on sale. I can fit about a bale and a half in mine no problem. I have been using mine for about three years and not had any hay go bad.

At the moment, I have my bin in the carport against the house. So it is covered nicely. Then I have a smaller bin that fits about two flakes of hay in the house for every day use. I fill that one up from the outside bin about once a month.

Feel free to send my a PM if you want to get my phone number to discuss the local hay sources. I have been to quite a few in the lower mainland

-Dawn

Thanks, Dawn!

Can you PM me the number for the Hay Hut? (And any other hay sellers around the same area?)

I was thinking of using something like this for storing the hay outside:



Oh, and I found Gus a hay rack at Canadian Tire for $5! It's a foil and wrap organizer and is exactly the size I was looking for!



Thanks!

Rue

That bin should work if it is in a carport. It will probably only fit one bale though.

I use one of these as a hay rack:
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/90072648

I will look up the hay hut number for you as soon as I get the chance

-Dawn

Thanks, Dawn!

I figure one bale should be plenty!

If I hadn't found this rack, my next stop was gonna be IKEA. But I was holding off cuz I didn't really wanna make the drive.

Thanks!

Rue

I have that large rubbermaid bin and I don't think that it can fir a whole bale and be able to close. The bales I currently have fit, but I have had ones before where the whole thing was too big and some needed to go on top.

Thanks, Kate. How much of the bale didn't fit? Likea flake or two or more? Cuz if it's just a flake or two, I could probablystore that inside. But if it's like 1/4 to 1/3 of the bale, well, that's gonnabe a problem...

Thanks!

Rue

It was about 4 flakes, but I don't thin they were huge. The bales I have now, the whole thing fits. I also find that if I can fit most of the bale in before I cut the string, it fits better than if you cut the strings and then try to stuff it in. I might end up with a large bit for the day to day bin, but most of it fits.

You might want to get a measurement of the bale before you buy the bin. The bales you can get might be bigger than the ones here.

Thanks, Kate! I'll try to keepthat in mind!

Rue

Just FYI, since there are a bunch of people showing off their fancy shmancy hay racks there's a Japanese dollar store in Richmond called Daiso and they sell awesome hay racks for $2.24 a pop (with tax - before taxes, everything in that store is $2).

If you've never been, it's always fun to just take a look at all the random stuff they have there (it's the only Japanese dollar store of its kind outside of Japan!) but if you're in a rush, you can find said hay racks on the first floor in the section adjacent to stationary (I forget what it's called now).

Oh yeah, and I've definitely been hearing and experiencing good things about WestWay Seed & Feed on Ladner Trunk Rd. near the junction of Hwy 99 and Hwy 10 if you're out that way.

I've been to Westway as well, and they are very good as well.

I have found that most feed stores in the lower mainland are awesome with nice hay and good service. I could never afford to provide my bunnies with the lifestyle they have now if I didn't have access to feed stores.

-Dawn

I was out at Westway last week.

They were out of Timothy bales.

But they had bags of about four flakes for $5, I got that and the same size of local grass hay. The local hay is a little more fattening than the timothy, but it isn't at all dusty.

And I'm reading this late, but thanks for the Richmond dollar store tip! I heard there was a great one out there but nobody could remember the name. I live downtown but my bunny vet just moved out there, so I'm a frequent visitor.


sas :bunnydance:

On my lasttrip for Timothy Hay, itwas the last of thebales too. The only hay the farm has noware some Alfalfa mix bales.