Other types of hay besides timothy?

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jyrenze

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Well due to availability purposes, sometimes Icant get timothy hay for my bunnies. Sometimes the pet store is out ofstock or the hay is yellow and old. Other hay that I have tried is Oatand barley hay mix and also Meadow hay. My bunnies really love themeadow hay. Just wondering if those are ok to feed on a long termbasis? Or is timothy still the best?
 
oaten hay i think is the next best thing totimothy hay.here in australia we dont get timothy hay,so i buy my bunsoaten hay and i heard it isjust as goodas timothyhay,my bunnies absolutely love eating it soooooooo much:)
 
here's a couple of good links about hay...

http://carrotcafe.com/f/hay.html

http://rabbit.org/journal/3-3/fiber.html

you have to read the article for the proper formatting andtosee what it all means, but here's a breakdown of somedifferenttypes of hay from the latter link:


Type ofHaydry matterenergy proteinfibercalcium


Alfalfahay901800*15.3*27.0*1.4*
Barleyhay8717907.624.0.2
Barleystraw9115804.038.0.3
Bermuda grass hay921656*11*27.6*.4*
Clover hayred881760*17.3*21.8*1.3*
Clover haywhite922024*21.4*20.9*1.8*
Lespedezahay921290*12.7*28.1*.9*
Oathay8820007.3*29.5*.3
Oatstraw9216404.137.0.3
Orchard grass hay8918299.8*30.0*.3
Prairiehay9216705.331.0
Ryegrasshay8620707.426.0.5
Sudan grasshay9118607.333.0.5
Timothyhay8920106.3*30.2*
Wheathay8818707.425.0.2
Wheatstraw8913403.237.0.2
 
cheryl13 wrote:
oaten hay i think is the next best thing to timothy hay.herein australia we dont get timothy hay,so i buy my buns oaten hay and iheard it isjust as goodas timothy hay,my bunniesabsolutely love eating it soooooooo much:)
Click to expand...


I never knew Australia didn't have timothy hay. No wonder all the pet shops I have asked had no idea what it is.

Where do you buy the oaten hay? The hay I buy simply comes in a big baglabelled "HAY". And it's yellow. Does that mean it is not fresh?
 
I think some types of hay are more yellow thanothers. The only way I knew some of the hay in the shop was not freshis because at certain times the hay sold is green and at othertimesthe same tpye of hay sold isyellow or brown.
 
yellow hay means its pretty much lost all it'snutrients. if your pet store only carries yellow hay, i suggest adifferent store, or even buying online. i buy timothy online in 9lbboxes for 20 dollars including shipping. not sure about malaysia andaustralia though.

jyrenze, meadow and oat hay are great for them too.. not sure about the long term affects, but i'd imagine them being equal.
 
Here's are somedescriptions of different qualities of hay:

Hay Quality Designation's physical descriptions:
Supreme: Very early maturity, pre bloom, soft fine stemmed, extra
leafy. Factors indicative of very high nutritive content. Hay is
excellent color and free of damage.
Premium: Early maturity, i.e., pre-bloom in legumes and pre head in
grass hays, extra leafy and fine stemmed-factors indicative of a high
nutritive content. Hay is green and free of damage.
Good: Early to average maturity, i.e., early to mid-bloom in
legumes and early head in grass hays, leafy, fine to medium stemmed,
free of damage other than slight discoloration.
Fair: Late maturity, i.e., mid to late-bloom in legumes, head-in
grass hays, moderate or below leaf content, and generally coarse
stemmed. Hay may show light damage.
Utility: Hay in very late maturity, such as mature seed pods in
legumes or mature head in grass hays, coarse stemmed. This category
could include hay discounted due to excessive damage and heavy weed
content or mold.
Defects will be identified in market reports when using this category.

Source: USDA-CO Dept of Ag Market News Greeley, CO


~Jim
 
Ditto AmberNBuns!

Timothy is sooo darn expensive here!!
Now I can tell mom... "hey, there's tons of less pricey alternatives!!" :cool:
 
AmberNBuns wrote:
Wow. That is awesome, Jim. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Glad to be of service!!;)

This is actually the link I was looking for before. It give descriptions a little more in layman's terms.
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/MCE/Publications/Publication.cfm?id=110

I use KayTee timothy hay and buy it in the 6 lb bags. With KayTee thequality will often vary quite a bit from cutting to cutting. I alwayscheck out the bags (even open them if necessary) and make sureitsgood quality. KayTee now puts date-stamps on the bags sowhen I find a good cutting, I can quickly find other bags from the samecutting.

~Jim
 
eve says....I never knew Australia didn't have timothy hay. No wonder all the pet shops I have asked had no idea what it is.

Where do you buy the oaten hay? The hay I buy simply comes in a big baglabelled "HAY". And it's yellow. Does that mean it is not fresh?.


eve,where in australia are you?

when you mentioned about asking the pet shops i had to laugh tomyself,because i did the same thing,i went everywhere asking abouttimothy hay and they all looked at me like i was strange orsomething,noone had ever heard of it,we dont get it over here.

eve,have you tried a fodder store,but they only have bales of hay though.

i also know that some pet shops do sell timothy hay in a one pound bagfor $10,it is a bit expensive,but it is imported from usa,the brand isalfalfa king.and it is very hard to find anyway.
 
flopsnwills wrote...1 pound for 10 dollars?! :faint:



yeah exactly my eyes popped out of my head as well,but i did buy it afew times when i didnt have extra bunnies,now i have to many and thatwould become expensive,even for one bunny i think it is quiteexpensive.but not to many pet stores sell it anyway,you have to belucky to find it.but it is imported from usa,so that is probably why itis so dear.
 
20 Malaysia dollars aint 20 US dollars, butstill its very expensive for us here. So I hope my bunnies don't blameme when I occasionally put them out into my garden to eat grass whenI'm home. They love the grass anyway.
 
cheryl13 wrote:
eve,where in australia are you?

eve,have you tried a fodder store,but they only have bales of hay though.

i also know that some pet shops do sell timothy hay in a one pound bagfor $10,it is a bit expensive,but it is imported from usa,the brand isalfalfa king.and it is very hard to find anyway.
Click to expand...
I live in Victoria.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll be sure to look for some fodder stores in my area, I had never thought of that.

I'll keep an eye out for the Alfalfa King brand, but I have visitedaround 15 pet shops in Melbourne so I think my chances of finding itare prettyslim.

Maybe I could find an Australian site from which I could order it online.

It's a shame there isn't a very big market for pet rabbit supplies inAutralia. I've been drooling over so many rabbit toys on US sites. ButI can'torder them because I've been told by customs that Ican't import untreated wood products from other countries.
 
I'm pretty sure Lucerne is the same asalfalfa. It's okay for young buns and older rabbits thatcan't keep their weight up, but it's too rich for adults. Tryasking for grass hay- it doesn't have to be timothy. Youcould ask at horse stables too.
 
yeah lucerne is the same as alfalfa,to fattening for an older bunny.

i also went to fodder stores and asked what kind of grass hay we haveover here,we dont have anything like grass hay.everyone i asked lookedat me like i was from a different planet

some hays we can get are....

wheat hay

oaten hay

lucerne hay

we do not have much of a variety over here.


eve..keep looking around,i have heard other people who live inmelbourne have had trouble finding it as well,but they do find iteventually after searching everywhere of course.

i know a few months ago there was absolutely no oaten hay around,itwent out of season,my bunnies had to settle for wheat hay,they werntvery happy with it,they didnt eat much of it.i was so glad when theoaten hay came back.
 
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