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Hay woes soon to be a thing of the Past!

C&K

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I was looking online today trying to find an alternative to my hay woes. I have searched high and low for hay at a decent price, and come up empty over and over again. I live in a large city, with little agriculture around. I tried feed stores, no luck. Ryans, a pet supply store sold Ok hay back in the fall, but it has turned very brown. The only hay of decent quality I can find is at PetnotsoSmart, Kaytee, but it is so Expensive! I am paying over $20.00 every two weeks, and that is rationing it out, I can't give it unlimited like I would want to, or I am sure it would be more like $50.00.

However, I have just found a couple of hay producers that will have hay in the spring! The Timothy does not come until Summer, but it is $7.00 for a 70lb bale! Honestly I can't get over that, and this is good quality hay, not out in the rain and moldy. I just have to wait it out a bit more, and soon I am going to have hay comming out of my ears! I will probably have to unload some of it on the SPCA or other rescues because I am not even sure I can store 70 pounds of hay.

In the meantime, I am thinking that perhaps I should go with a Timothy / Alfalfa mix so that they have an unlimited amount, perhaps dump the pellets, and follow up with a really good variety of fruits and veggies?
 

Percy's Mom

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Great deal on the timothy bale!
You mentioned a timothy/alfalfa mix. How old are your pigs again?
 

C&K

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Great deal on the timothy bale!
You mentioned a timothy/alfalfa mix. How old are your pigs again?

I am very excited about the price, it sounds like good quality hay, although seeing will be believing.

My pigs are two years old, I know they should not get Alfalfa, however I am in a real bind on what to give them. I can't afford to feed them unlimited Timothy hay, I already spend about $15 a week, or $30.00 a pay on hay, and it isn't enough. I am thinking that perhaps if the mix is not overwhelmingly alfalfa, that getting some of it, and mixing in additional timothy may be an ok solution until the pure Timothy comes into season. That way, I am thinking we would be down to about 25% alfalfa.

I do have another lead on Timothy Hay, however it also is not ready yet either, sounds like really high quality stuff, but it says it is a timothy mix, designed to be low protien. I have fired off an email to see what the "mix" part means. I am hoping they have it a little earlier, it will be more expensive though.
 

jdomans

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$7 for a bale of hay is about right. I am in GA and that is par for the course. Actually you may be able to store the full bale depending on your conditions. As long as it is kept dry and not in a humid area like an unairconditioned garage, you will be fine. If you live in a dry climate then great! Humidity will mold it.
 

C&K

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I missed your post until now Jdomans. Southern Ontario is very very very humid during summer, although it is possible I don't really know what real humidity is like the folks down in the Southern US. Still though, we have our fair share of days where you can see the hot moisture in the air, it feels like a sauna, and water will pool on the floors of basements without dehumidifiers.

I am thinking that my attic would be the dryest place to store, perhaps I should break down the bale into 20 pound bundles (I suppose this will be messy though) to allow for better air circulation. Fortunately, we don't stay humid for long, it usually breaks mid September, and by November / December, we get into dry lip and feet cracking fun!
 

december_wind

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AHhhhh! Stupid mouse button sent me back a page and erased my whole message!!! Grrrrrrr!
Okay... It's probably better to keep it in a shed if you have one, especially if you can leave the door open a bit as you'll probably get better air flow. Regardless try to find a wooden pallet/skid to place it on with the bindertwine facing left and right, not up and down. This will allow better air flow around the bale. I've never stored hay at home but this is how we stored it up in the hay loft when I worked with horses. A 70lbs bale is big! See if you can get a 40-50 lbs bale instead and check for weeds and other plants. Anyways check the ends for mold and smell it every week or so when the weather gets humid. Hay goes moldly fast. I live in the GTA so I know what you weather's like if you're anywhere near that.
 

absolutgyrl

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I may have found 50 pound bales of mixed orchard grass & alfalfa ... my gp is little so the alfalfa is still ok.

My question is piggybacking off yours - I thought I would get one bale & if the only place to keep it is an unairconditioned shed is it better to break it into peices and store it in the basement or keep it as a bale on a wooden rack in the shed? In Wisconsin it gets pretty humid in the summer ... not to GA standards probably but it is pretty darn humid.

I just wanted to ask before I did it wrong.

Thanks - D
 

C&K

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I would break it up, especially if it is at all moist. Make sure it has not been rained on, and does not smell dusty or moldy or "earthy". It should also be nice and green, and not too stemy. At that price if you have to pick out a few pieces that is ok too though.
 

SandyF

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Have you ever heard of Oxford Meadows hay? A friend of mine in Ontario uses them for her guinea pigs and rabbits, and raves about the quality:
(broken link removed)
 

C&K

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I have heard of it, but they are really expensive too. At least it would be a good quality, but I feel I need to find a less expensive alternative. I must be spending $20.00 a week on the 3 girls right now considering litter, veggies and hay, it has to give somewhere! They are expensive little buggers!
 

Sabriel

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Oxford medows is a little cheaper then Kaytee. I spend $11 every week and a half to 2 weeks. Those bags look little, but when you open them and fluff them up it almost fills up the big Kaytee bags. I kept my last Kaytee bag and dump the Oxford in to fluff it up. They are super compressed. Good for storage in my apartment.

I'd by a bale, but I really do have no place to put it. That and I live right in Toronto. No farms around here.
 

C&K

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I am going to keep my eyes open for Oxford hay in stores, I am really hoping that I can buy a bale this summer. Keeping my fingers crossed!
 
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