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Hay Dilema

i_heart_pigs

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Hello,

If I don't have access to hay from companies like oxbow and KM's right now, is kaytee suitable for a short time until I can order online in a couple weeks? Thanks in advance
 

BabyGrl

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Kaytee hay is better than no hay, so yes give them that until you can get something better.
 

snickers66

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I have two piggies, and I'm not sure if a bale is what I need yet. I do buy the Kaytee Timothy hay (just pick out the greenest best looking bags) but I recently found out that a pet store near me (Pet Supplies Plus) sells the Oxbow Orchard Grass - cant wait to try it !
 

aqh88

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Kaytee hay is ok to feed if you can't get anything else but usually the bags are stemmier, dustier, and browner than oxbow or KM's hay. Aside from the brown being somewhat less tasty and nutritious for the pigs they usually leave large amounts of it behind. Even if they eat it all those small bags are more expensive than buying a larger box from an online site even after you add in shipping. As long as it's stored correctly(out of sunlight, dry, and not airtight) hay can easily keep for a year so it's quite cost effective to buy large amounts provided you have space to store it. I order 200lbs which lasts about 5months for my 9.
 

C&K

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I have been buying Kaytee hay up until now, around here it is the best you can possibly find if you don't order from Oxbow. But the strange thing is, it is always beautiful! It is not at all stemy or brown, it is almost as green as grass. The last bag had a tiny bit of brown in it, but not much at all. I wonder if the hay they import meets a higher standard of quality? All other available brands in stores are just terrible, I don't think my pigs would eat it.

As for your question, Kaytee should be fine until you can get Oxbow or KM. Are you in Washington State? If you are, you are pretty close to KM, so when she gets more hay in, it will be very inexpensive to ship to you. You will find it much cheeper and of better quality then the Kaytee.
 

i_heart_pigs

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I am in Washington state, I will check that out.
 

aqh88

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Sorry my geography sucks but if Ontario is not too far to the east or west then you should be about as far from kaytee's farm as me. I believe their hay ships out of Wisconsin so if you are closer you end up with greener, fresher hay. Whereas the longer it takes to ship it and the more it sits on shelves the worse off it is. They have a very poor shipping setup and most of the hay ends up traveling on really hot humid trucks or left to sit in the sun. Here I can get plenty of green kaytee hay but it still doesn't compare to oxbow or KM. Even nonstemmy bags aren't as soft as that hay and there's usually quite a bit more dust.
 

C&K

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Ontario is right above New York State. It is in the near middle of Canada. I wouldn't think that we could possibly be much closer to Kaytee then you are. It is at least 3000 miles or so to Washington. I wonder if getting past customs has a role in quality, Really not sure why it is nice and green up here, it sounds rather substandard in much of the US! I have a feeling I might not know what really nice hay is. Other brands are sticks by comparison, I won't feed them to my girls anymore. Alice has gotten some from a vet office that is not awful, not great or as good as Kaytee, but much better then what I usually see in stores.

I really hope that I can get a nice bale or two this summer. That would solve all my problems! :)
 

aqh88

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I'm a heck of a long way from washington too(nearly 2,000miles) but how far from Wisconsin? On google map the center of Ontario is right above Wisconsin but if your over New York (closer to Toronto) then it's alot farther. Maybe 500miles and I'm about 200miles.
 

Ly&Pigs

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The only problem with KM's hay at the moment is she's out I believe and won't get anymore until late summer/early fall. I am so glad I still have about 150 lbs. of KM's hay here.
 

Percy's Mom

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I wish I had that much KM's left. I'm down to about 10lbs total (1-2lbs bluegrass and about 8 lbs 3rd cut timothy). Looks like I'll be ordering some from Oxbow for now.
 

aqh88

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I have either 2 or 3 45lb boxes of bluegrass in the stable plus half of one here so I figured we are fine until about June. However KM said she found some hay(5tons timothy, 2tons bluegrass) and she has enough until the beginning to middle of June. So last I heard you can order for the next few months.
 

Percy's Mom

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Thanks for the tip! I haven't kept up like I should on GL, so I didn't see the good news. I just put in an order for more bluegrass.
 

C&K

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but how far from Wisconsin? On google map the center of Ontario is right above Wisconsin but if your over New York (closer to Toronto) then it's alot farther. Maybe 500miles and I'm about 200miles.

LoL! If you go directly north of Wisconsin into Ontario, you are going to find yourself surrounded by millions and millions of miles of forest, and nothing much else!

Most of Ontario is nothing but forests, the only really populated part of Ontario is the part that looks like a finger pointing down to Detroit. That whole peninsula is jam packed with people, but especially right along the coast of Lake Ontario. (along Lake Erie is more argicultural.

If you go even 200 miles north of lake Ontario, you won't find much! Millions upon millions of us hug Lake Ontario. I can actually walk to the lake from my house. I have lived in 4 separate cities, hundreds of miles apart, but never more then 1/2 an hour in traffic from the lake.

If you look at this map: (broken link removed)

You will see Ottawa on it, and at the tip of the peninsula is Windsor, which is a bridge away from Detroit. Between Ottawa and Windsor is where almost everyone lives, but the big cities are all around Toronto, hugging the lake shore. It has almost got to the point where you can drive 200 miles through cities, but go 20 mile away from the shore, and it is farm land.
 

pink_cottonball

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If you know where Detroit is then all you have to do is think right across the bridge and your thoughts are in Ontario. I live around there. My piggers have been having Kaytee Timothy for a while know. The hay has been of fairly good quality. Not very dusty,I haven't seen it very brown at all. I guess it just depends. Howver, I am looking into Oxbow.
 
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