Hay Found this in my Oxbow Hay...

[guinea parade]

So we were scared for our pigs' lives when we found what we thought was blood dried in urine. We were frantically looking up kidney and bladderstone comparisons to find that there were these twigs in our hay with a reddish tinge. When simulating a test chew ourselves and rubbing it on their fleece, it made the blood-like stain.

They have never been found in hay before, and we want to know how dangerous it is or if they coild even be identified. At this point all the twigs have been removed from their home and the bag.

Can anyone help?

 

[Kelsie]

I can't say what type of twigs these are but to me they just look like they were mixed in with the hay when it was harvested. I've found things like this on occasion when I've gone through my hay. When hay is harvested many things just get into the mix. I wouldn't worry about them being dangerous. You did the right thing by just looking through the hay and removing them. I had a friend who purchased a large bale of hay and halfway the bale she found a dehydrated dead mouse. I'm always amazed that we don't find more unusual things in our hay.

 

[bpatters]

Every county in the U.S. has a county agent. Someone in that office should be able to identify it, or point you to someone who can.

 

[guinea parade]

Thanks for your insight! We have been going through hay for almost 10years now with our piggies, and this our first encounter with nonhay items in a bag.

I will have to look them up thank you for the suggestion!

 

[SSLee]

I've found a number of different twigs in my boxes of hay over the years but they look different from the ones @guinea parade shown. With my current 20 pound hay from Rabbit Hole, I've found almost 20 flatten bugs and am only half way through the box. I've ordered from Rabbit Hole multiple times and this is the first time to have dead bugs.

 

[urofan]

I find things in bags of the sweet meadow hay brand of hay. I have seen twigs in bags of Oxbow brand hay, but I get rid of them so that my pets don't eat them.

 

[4boipigs]

Since this thread popped up again, I'll add my SPS findings - aside from sticks, I've found a few pieces of blue plastic. There is no way they could have made it into my boys' cage, so I'm just assuming it was SPS. I'm glad I found it before the pigs did.

 

[urofan]

There was a fire at the oxbow farm so maybe this came from one of the buildings. I've also found pieces of blue plastic in some Oxbow white pure comfort bedding, and I mailed it back to them, and they told me that they did not know where it came from.

 

[urofan]

There was a fire at the oxbow farm so maybe this came from one of the buildings. I've also found some pieces of blue plastic in some Oxbow white pure comfort bedding, and I mailed it back to them, and they told me that they did not know where it came from.

 

[4boipigs]

I'm about 3/4 of the way done with a 25 lb box of SPS, and I found this super dead cricket when I set hay down for Amigo. I thought it was just another stick or something, but I'm pretty sure that's a cricket. I emailed SPS since I also have found bits of blue plastic (string? wire?) in this box.

 

[bpatters]

You're ALWAYS going to find things in hay. Harvesting and packaging it is a very mechanized process, and more than 120 million tons of hay are grown per year in this country. From start to finish, nobody's looking at it for bugs or tiny inclusions of any sort. Unless you want the prices to quadruple, you're better off to pick out the stuff yourself than to complain to the company. If they have to check it all before they sell it, you won't be able to afford it.