Hay Orchard Grass vs Bluegrass?

So order KMS orchard grass. She's got a new crop in.

My piggies love KMS bluegrass, you can email them and get a 1lb sample for the cost of shipping.

@bpatters Is the bluegrass the same? I'm not seeing an option to order orchard on KMS and I'm not seeing it in my e-mails, either?
@Rywen Thank you! I didn't know I could get a sample. That's brilliant.

According to KM, their bluegrass hay is a hybrid between orchard grass and blue grass.
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Mine didn't care for the bluegrass as much as 2nd cut timothy from KMS. I got them the KMS 3rd cut timothy - talk about soft! Now, they like 3rd cut only. I think my girls liked the wideness of the 3rd cut. The orchard hay/blugrass was very thin.

They don't like Oxbow (and I have a 50 lb box of it.) They are now eating much much more pellets. Before, they never ate the daily recommended amount and mowed through the 3rd cut.

oh, I forgot to say, it may have just been a change in food as why they didn't care for the bluegrass. For a year or more they only had 2nd cut.

Which brand of Timothy hay do you tend to buy? Is it the kaytee, carefresh, dunlean farms, or oxbow? I use the timothy hay provided by Small Pet Select, which I think is the "best" organic, fresh, chemical and pesticide free hay; I believe it is this brand that is recommended at happycavy.com. Moreover, Amazon does provide the 8lb and 10lb box of hay under the prime membership from Small pet select (free two day shipping! [emoji41]) The 8lb box ( $ 29.99)with two piggies lasts me about a month to a month and a half and that is with me changing it out everyday.
Here is the link to amazon--> https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ID70IEU/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1410398901&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40

And here is the link to happycavy.com ---> https://www.happycavy.com/what-can-guinea-pigs-eat/

Hope this helped a bit!

Brand doesn't have much to do with hay. The quality of hay is far more dependent on the growing/harvesting conditions, and how it's packaged for sale. Kaytee, for instance, mostly sells small packages, and they can sit around in a big pet store warehouse for quite a while before making it to the shelves. Companies that sell by the box usually sell fresher hay, because it essentially comes from the farmer to you with little or no storage in between.

The cheapest way to buy hay is from a local farmer, if you live where there is one. There, you can buy a bale of hay for $10 or less, and a bale can weigh upwards of 100 pounds. The most expensive way is to buy it in a small bag from a pet store, no matter what the brand is. In the middle is ordering boxes of hay (usually 40-50 pounds), which is way cheaper than buying from a pet store, but a lot more expensive than a local farmer or feed store.

rau91, you're paying $4.50 a pound for that hay. I get a 45-pound box from KMS Hayloft form about $54, less than $1.15 a pound. The other hay sellers for the pet market have similar pricing -- American Pet Diner, Small Pet Select, Oxbow (I think they ship to stores and you have to order through the store), and several others work the same way.

[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33] when you put it that way... Haha

Bpatters,

I do really appreciate your advice and tips very much! Given the fact I am currently living in Pennsylvania...surrounded by farmland... I better go hunt myself a farmer! [emoji16] again, thank you for your kind guidance!

Kelly9 said:

I would love to have a farmer here in Michigan that does just timothy. I have called all around and they have timothy/alfalfa blends. Anyone in Michigan buy from a farmer?

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Try Sweet Meadow. They're based in Massachusetts, so shipping should be significantly cheaper than from KMS. I live in Ohio and I order their meadow hay, but I've gotten their timothy before and it's quite good.

https://sweetmeadowfarm.com/

Thanks Mastershroom, but the price is comparable to KMS for the big size.