Why you should buy hay in BULK!

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pocketsizedrhino

pocketsizedrhino

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Location
Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
I did a hay price break down before placing my next order. If you have a feed store you buy from I would love to hear your price per pound numbers (since I'm sure that is the BEST deal). These are all timothy hay prices. The shipping charges have been added and may vary for different areas. I am in GA.


Kleenmama's w/shipping charges added:
45lbs = $1.53/lb = $69
25lbs = $1.72/lb = $43
15lbs = $2.26/lb = $34
9lbs = $2.88/lb = $26
5lbs = $4/lb = $20

Sweet Meadow w/shipping charges added:
30lbs = $1.29/lb = $38
14lbs =$1.78/lb = $25
9lbs = $2.33/lb = $21
1.25lbs = $10.40/lb = $13

Oxbow at Petsmart:
2.5lbs = $4/lb = $10
1lb = $5/lb = $5


Sweet Meadow has cheaper shipping prices than Kleenmama's for me because they are located closer. Kirby and I prefer the hay from Kleenmama's after trying both because of how lush, green and great smelling it is. My hay from Sweet Meadow, though cheaper, had a lot of brown that Kirby won't eat and I don't like the dried herbs in it (I didn't order the one with herbs :X). I ended up ordering a 25lb box of 3rd cut timothy from Kleenmama's. :)

I also figured that Kirby will eat 25lbs in about 3.5 months. That comes out to $12/mo. Pellets are about $3/mo. Veggies are probably over or about $10/mo.

Estimated feeding total = $25/mo. What do you pay?
 
For 60 pounds of timothy, of what ever cut is available at the time, I pay $14 dollars.

Being able to get it so cheap means that I am a lot more liberal with how much my buns get. They are hay spoiled, they get huge handfuls several time a day and get to pick out all the best pieces.

One bale last me about two months with four buns. So about $7 a month for hay.

I buy a 40 pound bag of pellets for $12 that last me about 6-8 months, so about $1.75 a month.

For veggies, my guys pretty much eat table scraps and bits of left overs from my cooking (not cooked lol). So I don't really pay anything for that.

-Dawn
 
5 bucks for a 50 gallon trash bag. Of local grown hay Burmulia or something like that. Its in Texas.

21 bucks for a 50 pound bag of Purina fiber 3

that trash bag should feed Storm for 6 months. But I am going to say three bags a year.

36 bucks a year
To feed Storm break that down to months is 3 bucks a month Storm can't handle Veggies.

I buy 3 40 pound bags of Litter now a year and that last a year so in total.

To take care of Storm a year is
60 bucks that breaks down to around 6 bucks a month.



Oh you only asked for hay I will probably spend about 10 or 15 for the year on hay.
 
I pay 7 for a large square bale. I just got a ton of hay for free though! I will have enough for quite a while!
 
I get my bales of hay free from the lovely people who board my sister's horse. I also buy a 25lbs of Blue Seal pellets for 10$ which lasts a couple of months. I spend the most on fresh greens for Roxy, she is 10-11 lbs and eats a head of Romaine lettuce everyday (plus parsley and other greens which differ week to week) which in winter can be a little expensive. I pay anywhere from 1.50$ to 2.75$ for Romaine lettuce in winter.. which averages about 60$ a month for veggies alone!!
 
Our rabbits are both bedded on and fed timothy hay. We buy big rectangle bales from the feed store. They're about $7ea, which is a bit pricey. We COULD get them for $5ea IF we ordered several bales at a time, but sadly we lack the storage to do so. Still, feeding and bedding on 100% timothy only takes about two bales a month. $17 is not bad, especially considering that two LITTLE bags of hay from Petco/Petsmart, which would probably only be enough to feed, not bed, the two costs as much.
 
Well, I was buying hay by the 4-5 lb. bag at the local tack and feed for $4 (would never dream of buying hay at the pet store . . . it's anywhere from $5-10 for 1-2 lbs!Plus you havenoidea how old it is!:p). Butabout 4-5 weeks ago Ibought a bale of "local" hay (I think it's got a mix of different hays) for $10.50. I'm not sure how much it actually weighs, but the girl there said it should be 50-60 lbs. It's really nice hay (even compared with the stuff I was buyingfrom them before by the bag--I think they were sweeping it up off the floor, so it was often borderline fines). Not much dust and really sweet smelling and green. I don't yet know how long it will last.I'm guessing6 months? Ipacked it into a big Rubbermaid bin and we haven't even made a dent in it yet! :shock:

So I was paying $1-1.25 per lb. buying it by the bag, now I'm paying about .20 centsper lb. buying it by the bale! :)

I still buy Gus's pellets in the small bag (4.4 lb.), but I found a place that sells it a bit cheaper ($8 instead of $10). He seems to go through it in about 6-8 weeks. So pellets cost me about $4-5 per month. I'm still debating whether to buy the bigger bag (11 lb.) since they've raised the price now to $20. I don't think there's much savings there (and then I have to store 5 lbs. of it in my alreadyoverstuffed freezer!)

For veggies, I spend a bit more right now (being winter), probably about $3-5 per week. In the summer, though, his veggies should cost basically nothing, as I'll have my garden to feed him, plus grass and dandelions, etc. from the lawn.

Anyway, on average, I'd say I spend probably about $25 a month feeding him.

Rue
 
I buy hay from a farmer (different one each time I need it). The cost is $4 per bale, and the bales are probably 50-65 pounds each. 1 bale lasts me about 3-4 months, so I use 3-4 bales a year for a cost of $12-16 for 3 buns.
If I were to buy hay from a pet store, it would be about $2 per pound, and the big bags are 5 pounds. This is the cheapest hay I can find in the city. There are other brands and stores that cost more. At one point, I was going though at least 2 bags a month.

For Korr and Penelope, a 10 pound bag of pellets lasts about 8 weeks and costs $20. Lillian is on a feed store brand (she has different needs), that is $16 for 50 pounds. I am not sure how long that will last, but it should last a while.

For veggies, I probably spend about $20 a month for all 3 buns. I share lettuce with them, so some of that is for me.

So for 3 buns, I spend about $10 a month on pellets, $1.25ish on hay and $20 on veggies. So about $30 a month for 3 buns, or $10 a month per bun. These are estimates though.
 
I buy hay from two local farmers. Last time I boughttwo 40 lb. bales for $10 each. Nice orchard mix.

As for veggies I go to Produce Junction a local farmer's market. I also found a place about a half hour away that I stop at on the way home from work. They tend have dandelion leaf which has been difficult to get around here.

My rabbits don't get pellets. I stopped giving them as some rabbits were having GI and bladder sludge issues.
 
Wow, I am paying way too much for hay, compared to a lot of other people! The rescue I volunteer with buys 25-lb boxes of hay from American Pet Diner, and sells them for $35/box to volunteers, $45/box to non-volunteers.
My four bunnies are HUGE hay eaters, and can go through a whole box about every 5 or 6 weeks. I think we need 11 boxes to make it a whole year.
:shock:

I could probably mail-order for less, but feed stores are a little too far away to be convenient for me. I am ok with how much we pay, as the hay is good quality, and buying from the rescue helps support them.
 
I pay $10 for a 58 pound compressed bale of Timothy. Best deal around here. Plus, with it being compressed, it fits really nicely in a bin, and doesn't explode unless I try to take from the middle. The bale'll last me 2 months, maybe.

My pellets are about $10 for a 25 pound bag. The 50 pound one is only five dollars more, but it's far too much feed. My Nethies only get 1/4 cup a day, and they just can't go through that much. A bag of feed lasted my rabbits about 4 months, so I'd assume it'll last my current herd about a month, with all the litters around and the increase of stock in general.

So $15 dollars a month? Plus twice weekly or so clumps of parsley, which are .99 cents a piece. So maybe $25 dollars max. Compare that to about $40-60 show entry fees a month. XDD
 
Hmmm I keep telling myself I need to find a feed store with good hay. I live in a semi-urban area.
My boyfriend's mom has horses but they are about 2 hours away, I'm sure she would help me out with hay if I asked.
Hearing about all of your awesome feed store/farmer hay prices makes me want to investigate that option further.

Thanks for all the replies! :)
 
Any hay good enough for a horse is good enough for a bunny.

When I was living in Vancouver, I would drive 2 hours out to a feed store twice a year to stalk up on hay, pellets and litter. Even with having to pay for fuel or rent a truck sometimes, it was still way cheaper than local pet stores.

If you can find some other bunny owners in the same area, you can do a group buy. Split a bale of hay and some pellets. You still get the bargain prices and in quantities that are usable and storable.

-Dawn
 
I get hay by the bales. $3.50 for a bale and it last be about 2 months.

Food is about $14 for a 50lbs bag and I honestly am not sure how long it lasts me. Months.

Veggies depend. Since the winter months they've been getting less because I don't have a garden full of it!

Litter is $4.50 for a 40 lbs bag and one bag lasts about a month.

That's with 4 rabbits.

That's my break down! :p
 
Lily currently eats Oxbow pellets (I think I bought it for $12) and oxbow hay (a mix of botanical, timothy, and oat). Since it's only used for eating and not bedding I just buy a bag or two a week from a local feed store (as far as I know they don't sell hay bales since they cater to chickens, exotic pets, and birds and not horses or livestock). I think that monthly she eats about 4-5 bags of hay and they cost $3.99-$4.99 per pound bag depending on the variety so her hay alone costs about 20 bucks a month. Money's not a huge issue for me though; the dogs eat $100 in food a month so the cost of maintaining a rabbit pales in comparison. She gets less than 1/2 a cup of pellets a day so one bag should last her for 3-4 months. And I spend $6 a week on veggies since I grow my own herbs. So all in all she eats about $25-30 of food a month.
 
Hrm.....

$60 for 50lbs of Oxbow BBT lasts me 5 months, so $10 per month to feed 4 rabbits pellets.
$15 for a 100+lbs bale of timothy/orchard grass hay lasts me about 6 months, so $2.50 per month.
$10 for 80lbs of wood stove pellets lasts me 1 month, so $10 per month.

4 rabbits roughly costs me $25 a month, not feeding veggies. A friend recently gave me a 50lbs bag of Oxbow 15/23 pellets, so I am set for pellets for for 1 year, LOL....so realistically I'm paying like $5 per month for pellets...if you put it that way :). I'd like to give away some of it, though, as I don't know how fresh it will stay sitting around for a year.

I'm hoping to get back on track with feeding veggies this spring. I never knew we had a farmers market come here to the local college, so I'm hoping I can get fresh veggies for cheaper then what the store charges.....in my opinion (I'm from NY, sooooo....), veggies & fruits are expensive in AZ :grumpy:. I'd like to try growing my own herbs, too.
 
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