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werecatrising

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I have been having a hard time finding decent hay. I go through so much, buying online isn't really an option for me. You'd think that since I live in a big horse/cattle focused area finding good quality hay would be easy. Not so. I try and feed a mix. I like to have at least one coarse hay to give. Last week I ran out of grass hay. They were out at the feed store. The owner recommended teff hay, saying it could be most closely compared to timothy. I picked some up. Within a week and a half of feeding it Ludo went into stasis. I know it could be coincidence, but I am worried. Yesterday I went to get oat. I waited forever for it to be loaded up. The kid finally came out and said they were out of oat. They had sudan hay, which was broader pieces. I got that instead but am reluctant to use it. Is everyone else having trouble finding feed too?
 
I can see why you are frustrated! The rescue has a hard time finding decent hay too. There are a few spots in my area but that's pretty darn far from you. :(

I hope you have more luck. :clover:
 
The only place I know of that sells hay (in Perth) is City Farmers, and they just have one kind. When I asked what kind of hay it was the sales guy looked at me like I was crazy and said, "It's just hay!" :rollseyes It's yellow too, not green like you all say it should be, and really coarse, but I don't know if that's because I'm in Australia. Muffin seems to love it, though.
 
tinymonster wrote:
The only place I know of that sells hay (in Perth) is City Farmers, and they just have one kind. When I asked what kind of hay it was the sales guy looked at me like I was crazy and said, "It's just hay!" :rollseyes It's yellow too, not green like you all say it should be, and really coarse, but I don't know if that's because I'm in Australia. Muffin seems to love it, though.
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Are you sure it was hay and not straw? Yellow and coarse sounds like straw. Some people call straw "hay"(hay rides, bales of hay etc are usually straw). Its fed to cattle or used as a bedding material. Straw is the by product of harvesting the grain. Its just the dried stalk of the plant, no real nutritional value.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay


 
In Australia, I believe the majority of hay is Oat Hay or derivatives of oat.

When I was visiting a cattle ranch just outside of Adelaide, the farmer showed me his hay crops and the baled hay. It was very yellow, but he said that it was still full of nutrients. He had many, many years of experience and really cared for his animals.

Oat hay is fine for bunnies. It is nice and course so it should be good for keeping molars nice and ground down.

--Dawn
 
aurora369 wrote:
In Australia, I believe the majority of hay is Oat Hay or derivatives of oat.

When I was visiting a cattle ranch just outside of Adelaide, the farmer showed me his hay crops and the baled hay. It was very yellow, but he said that it was still full of nutrients. He had many, many years of experience and really cared for his animals.

Oat hay is fine for bunnies. It is nice and course so it should be good for keeping molars nice and ground down.

--Dawn
Click to expand...
Thanks Dawn! Yes, it's definitely hay, and Muffin really enjoys it (though not as much as fresh grass-- the cheapest rabbit treat ever)!
 
easy way to tell the difference between hay and straw is Hay has the seed heads attached, straw is just stalks(grain is removed during harvest)
 
I thought the same thing about hte color of hay, to me good hay s hould be nice and green like the expensive stuff i was buying online ,lol, come to find out that it doenst have to be green and just because it is green doesnt make it any more nutrious. You go by smell too how does it smell, does it smell fresh and great!!!!



When i was looking for hay someone had mentioned contacting a place that has show horses, because they feed thier horses very good hay and find out where they get thier hay, worth a try. Fortunately i was able to find someone who lives litteraly around the corner and thier hay is green and smells great and the buns and piggies love it.
 
We actually have quite a bit up here in WA. But in the summer our feed stores didn't have any for a while and we had to feed our bunnies really plasticy like straw and fresh grass, which we barely gave them the straw because it was more fake looking than real. So they got to enjoy fresh grass and freshly dried grass as well.
 
I am having a similar problem here. You can find hay (if you rally want it and are willing to look, anyway) but since we had a spell of very wet weather at harvest time we have been having problems with mold in it. I bought five bales from a guy a couple miles down the road, and it was really nice hay, but most of the bales had a little mold in the middle where it couldn't dry as well. At $4 a bale, when my guys go through a bale every 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, that gets expensive when you have to pitch half of each bale.

:(
 
Sorry guys- We're lucky enough to make and sell our own hay here. I would definately look into places that show, breed, train or board horses as "horse hay" is usually much better than "cow hay". Cows can eat anything but horses are very pick (as are their owners!!!)

Katrina
 
Yeah, I've noticed that, I had a guy try to sell me this really awful stuff that he said was "pretty good hay". Come to find out when I went to look at it, it was pretty good COW hay-I thought it was straw when I first saw it, and he was asking $5 a bale!!

I called the feed store yesterday to see if they had any straw, as the nights are getting a little chilly for the bunnies here. He said they had 10-12 bales in right now--but they want $4.50 a bale--for straw! :shock:
 
DyemondRabbitry wrote:
Wow guys that's crazy! The average price for really good horse hay here is $2.75 to $3.50 a bale and straw is $3 or $4 in the expensive feed stores.
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For hay that would last 1 week with only 2 rabbits here costs like €3.50 witch € is worth more then $. :shock:
 
That's just astonishing! I would die with my horses as there are only two and they have to have about 1 bale a day! Plus the cost of their grain and supplements and then the rabbits are workin on the hay too.. geez... I knew it was high but I really didn't know it was that high. My question is...where is the profit going? We run on diesel tractors and sell for $2.75 a bale and turn a decent profit!
 
paul2641 wrote:
How big is a bale?
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Depends on where you buy them, but the rectangle ones are usually about 20lbs and the bigger round bales 30-40lbs. I buy the retangle bales and beetween ferrets bedding, guinea pig bedding, guinea pig feed and rabbit feed it takes about 3 months to use it up :biggrin2:
 
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