Hay

[ViolinPlayer123]

Hello!

Grass hay in square bales is relatively rare in our area. I have just 1 rabbit, and currently have been giving him hay from Walmart. However, he goes through them in about a week, and it costs about 10$ for a small portion of Timothy hay. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Forti-Diet-Natural-Timothy-Hay-96-0-OZ/47336166
^^^^^^^^^^^^This stuff.
Is their any place better to buy a larger portion of hay for less? I will continue my search locally.

Thanks!

 

[farmerjan]

Where are you located? You could put the general area in your profile which would help others to try to "help you out" with some things. My best advise is the following; not knowing where you are: Is there a Tractor Supply near you? Or any type of local feed and farm supply like a county co-op feed mill? How about your county office building where there is some sort of ag or county extension agent. Try the high school for an ag dept. These type of people should be able to help you find someone around. Honestly, selling only one or two bales at a time is a pain for most farmers, but I fully understand you not needing any quantity. Do you have some sort of local "trading post or bulletin board" type paper? Try Craigslist under the farm/garden section. There's got to be some options. You may have to buy 5 or 6 bales, but they will "keep" if they are stored in the dry in a garage or shed or something.

Hope this gives you a jumping off place to look.

 

[ViolinPlayer123]

Where are you located? You could put the general area in your profile which would help others to try to "help you out" with some things. My best advise is the following; not knowing where you are: Is there a Tractor Supply near you? Or any type of local feed and farm supply like a county co-op feed mill? How about your county office building where there is some sort of ag or county extension agent. Try the high school for an ag dept. These type of people should be able to help you find someone around. Honestly, selling only one or two bales at a time is a pain for most farmers, but I fully understand you not needing any quantity. Do you have some sort of local "trading post or bulletin board" type paper? Try Craigslist under the farm/garden section. There's got to be some options. You may have to buy 5 or 6 bales, but they will "keep" if they are stored in the dry in a garage or shed or something.

Hope this gives you a jumping off place to look.

I haven't tried our actual feed store, but L&M Fleet doesn't carry any. I will check there. I'm in MN. Thanks for helping.

 

[promiseacres]

Fyi our bunnies get our "horse" hay. So at times they get a clover,grass mix. Other times they have gotten alfalfa,grass hay. Just depends on what we made. I just adjust amount if there's a lot of legumes. But of course they love it. So I guess I am saying be a bit flexible on type. I know timothy is just about next to impossible to find around here. It can't be grazed and doesn't grow as well as other grasses around here. I really like orchard grass for my critters. And it can be grazed and isn't as fragile as the Timothy.

 

[DutchBunny03]

Rabbits do just fine with horse hay sold by feed stores. If you have a livestock supply store near you, try there. Don't fall for the overpriced "specialty" rabbit hay.

 

[Sundragons]

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...orage-premium-timothy-grab-go-compressed-bale

17 bucks at TSC. I'm thinking since you can buy online they'll ship as well. We put ours in a 35 gallon food safe barrel to keep it fresh longer and prevent mold. One compressed bale will fill the barrel and you can seal it airtight.

Not that we ever have a bale longer than 2 weeks, between the rabbits, chickens, pigs, and tortoises we go through a lot of timothy

(edit: Yay necroposting!)

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

We use barrels for storing hay and we never had problems with mold, but I personally am not fond of compressed bales. The hay is more broken up, therefore there is more waste. At least, that has been my personal experience with it.

 

[Sundragons]

We use barrels for storing hay and we never had problems with mold, but I personally am not fond of compressed bales. The hay is more broken up, therefore there is more waste. At least, that has been my personal experience with it.

It may be the type. I see it with the compressed alfalfa bales (which I don't mind because we're usually feeding kits after weaning and smaller is better), but usually the timothy and the orchard grass are pretty good. I really do love barrels though. Even in the dry AZ heat we keep the hay fresh long enough for it to disappear. If it was just sitting out it dries out pretty fast and the rabbits get all mopey about it. Oddly, they chickens and tortoises don't seem to mind.