Bad Hay Season???

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It depends on where you are. For us, this yearhas been great haying weather. It's the first year in a whilethat we haven't had a grasshopper infestion destroying crops and we hadenough rain early on that they did good.
 
I've heard of recent issues with people gettingold hay from Oxbow, I'm not sure why. I buy farm hay so it's a lotcheaper and nicer than any store bought stuff.
 
We were/are having a bit of a hay shortage in NZright now, but I bought a bale from a farm earlier this year and it'slasting me ages which is great. It still looks and smells just as goodas the day I got it. It's best to use older hay here anyway, not sureabout other countries but farmers spray this stuff around their farmsthat kill rabbits and it it sometimes in the hay, but it dies off aftera few months.

I think it gives them the calici virus so it's pretty worrysome.
 
I use Kaytee timothy hay. We're pretty limitedto the brands that are available in my area. And fresh hay is a fewhours to the nearest place.
The Pet Goods store by us always has 10 -12 bags (6 lb) on the shelfand they've gotten used to me pulling them all out to check for qualityand date stamp.
Once in a while I'll even open a bag if I think it might contain a lotof chaff....they give me some looks but never say anything to me. I'mthere every Saturday and buy at least $50 worth of merchandise.

For a few weeks in a row it was hard to find a decent bag, but last weekend it seemed to be better.
I keep track of the date stamps so I can buy up a bunch if I find a good cut.

I've been lucky in that I've only gotten one bag of hay that that had a lot of brown in it.
Oh...and one bag of Orchard Grass that was basically unfit to give tothe bunnies (I knew I should have opened it and smelled it before Ibought it!)
 
I have two bales of locally grown first cut hayfrom June and it's great! I also have a 50 lb box of Oxbowfrom late spring that isn't nearly as good as the previous twoboxes. It's the first hay that Fey and Sprite ever refused toeat, and with their sensitive stomachs the lack of hay caused somemajor problems until I got the farm hay. Now they'll eat theOxbow, but it took them a long time to get used to it.

And Jim, honey, you've got to start ordering hay inbulk! It will save you so much money, and the quality isbetter than bagged because it hasn't been handled as much.The handling increases the chaff.
 
naturestee wrote:
And Jim, honey, you've got to start ordering hay inbulk! It will save you so much money, and the quality isbetter than bagged because it hasn't been handled as much.The handling increases the chaff.
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Oh my!...don't I know it.

Buying Kaytee costs me $2+ per pound (yikes!). It's just so darned convenient.
Oxbow would cost about $1 per pound including the shipping cost.

I should really make a trip down to Cream Ridge (75 miles, or 1 hr 30min, or "down off Exit 7Afor you Jersey folks;))....although I don't know how I'd fit a bale into my tiny littlecar. And then there's the cost of gas and trolls (aka "tolls"), too.

Maybe I should just plow under my backyard and plant timothy!:?
 
MyBabyBunnies wrote:
JimD, we fit 4 bales into my dad's tiny VW Golf.;)But it's definitely worth the hour and a half drive! I meanbales are so much cheaper and better. Do you have any horse stables inyour area? You may be able to buy a few off of them.

P.S.- Jim have you ever looked on here?http://www.hayexchange.com/hayexcha/cgi-bin/sell/search.cgi
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Hi MBB!

I've got a Kia Rio (I think that's latin for "too tiny"). Imight be able to squeeze 4 HALF bales into it. Sometimes I missmy old pick-up truck...except when I buy gas.

My sister said the same thing to me when I went back to Detroit lastmonth...."Why don't you go over to the racetrack or the riding/boardingstables?".....duh. I keep forgetting about that idea. I can actuallysee the stable from the window at work.

I think I've seen that site too, or a very similar one. Thanks....I'll have to check into it .
 
I think that link has been posted on herebefore,I know I refer to it a lot! But you may notice thatnow more farmers are advertising hay for sale than earlier in the year.I don't know about where you are but we start really seeing hay forsale at the beginning of August and not much before.
 
bg9651 wrote:
Hello,Is anyone having trouble buying fresh haylately? I think the summer season + the excessive heat iscausing a lot of the hay to be brown and not all that fresh.I've beenbuying OxBow Timothy Hay and have 3-4 10lb cases that my rabbit andguinea pig won't eat.I am curious if I am the only one with thisproblem... I am worried because I know they NEED to eat a lotof hay and they are just sticking to pellets and veggies.Thanks
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YES! The last few times I have purchased Oxbow Timothy hay it's beenmostly brown. The most recent bags I bought Trixie won't even eat! Ihave definitely seen a decline in the quality of the hay from Oxbow....
 
I picked up a bag of Kaytee that was the firstbag of good quality in several weeks....... leafy, has good green colorand is free from mold or mustiness. I think the date code was from May.

The recent bags have been fair quality, lacking greenness and stemmy.
 
JimD wrote:
Ipicked up a bag of Kaytee that was the first bag of good quality inseveral weeks....... leafy, has good green color and is free from moldor mustiness. I think the date code was from May.

The recent bags have been fair quality, lacking greenness and stemmy.
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The last 2 times I bought Oxbow hay Trix wouldn't eat it. Iknow she is eating ok cause she eats her pellets and her poops arenormal....
I am going to stop at Petco and pick up a bag of the Kaytee hay for her tonight.

Thanks for the idea, Jim,
 
Hi,



Yes I have been finding that the Oxbow timithy hay that I order fromrabbitstop.com has been brown. I have a store near my housethat sells Oxbow timithy hay & sometimes I buy from the storebut when I went to the store to buy it I noticed the Oxbow Timithy haythat were on their shelves there was alot of brown hay in there.

Maybe I am going to have to switch from Oxbow to another brand for nowsince I saw other brands in the pet supply store that were not brown.

JP
 
Well, I bought a bag of Kaytee Timothy hay and guess what????

IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!!!!!! She has gone through 3 hay racks full of it since bring it home 2 days ago.

Thanks JIM! :D

:bunnydance::bunnydance:
 
my rabbits also refuse to eat the brown hay soabout half of the amount we put in their hay racks end up on the floornever to be eaten. I hope this bad hay thing doesn't last.glad to know we're not the only ones esperiencing this!
 
TrixieRabbit wrote:
Well, I bought a bag of Kaytee Timothy hay and guess what????

IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!!!!!! She has gone through 3 hay racks full of it since bring it home 2 days ago.

Thanks JIM! :D

:bunnydance::bunnydance:
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Glad to be of service :)

The quality of Kaytee hay is not very consistant. I usually go throughevery bag before picking one. There's always a dozen bags, and at least2 or 3 different cuts.

Maybe we can split some fresh hay if I can find some. My in-laws live on the Island so maybe we could do a "hay-drop".

~Jim
 
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