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Hay Best Hay?

LemonySnickers

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I recently purchased 25 pounds of timothy hay from SPS, but it isn't a good batch. The hay is noticeably more brown and gray than the last batch I had, doesn't smell as fresh, and has a lot of dust and small pieces. This is the second time I've had an issue with their hay, and it's frustrating. What suppliers do you guys get your hay from? Is KMS timothy hay pretty good? Thanks in advance!
 

spy9doc

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Be aware that hay is generally harvested in late summer, although some as early as mid-July. That batch of hay is what the companies then sell for the upcoming year. I try not to buy hay in the spring for that reason.

I don't buy timothy hay at all because my husband is wildly allergic to it. We generally use either orchard grass or bluegrass hay. For about the past three years, I have been using orchard from a couple of suppliers inluding SPS. I recently decided to give KMS another try since the company has changed hands and the shipping is more reasonable.

I'm sure others will come along and give you feedback about sources of timothy.
 

spy9doc

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I'm aware that I owe @Kelsie feedback regarding the recent purchase of both bluegrass hay and pellets from KMS. I have used KMS in the past, but had a couple of unhappy experiences with the previous owner. With my above post in mind. I offer my opinion of the shipment I received last week. I only finally opened the box last evening when I did a full cage clean.

Keep in mind that this was a trial purchase for me to tide me over until suppliers have their newly-harvested crop of hay available, so I ordered only 15# of hay and 10# of pellets. Imagine my delight upon opening the box and this wonderfully fragrant odor leaped out at me. The hay was the familiar long-strand green and smelled delightful! Since I've had no previous experience with their pellets, I had no particular expectations.

Several changes at once for the boys and it took them forever to settle down for the night. Changes including a new tunnel cover that didn't smell familiar and brand new hay and pellets. The hay received the piggy stamp-of-approval almost at once but it took longer for them to decide that the pellets might be o.k. I saw one of the boys eating the pellets as I turned out the lights so I didn't worry about them. Generally, when one approves something new, the other then has to try it.

My answer came when I first looked in the cage this morning and someone had definitely eaten a good portion of the pellets. :rolleyes: Since there are no other critters in the house, the presumption is that the boys have also approved the new pellets. I should say that I normally would gradually introduce a mix of old and new pellets, but the boys are young and adaptable and since we were making one change, I figured that we might as well do it all at the same time.

So, bottom line........I'm pleased with the purchase! :cool:
 

bpatters

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I'm betting this is going to be a bad hay year in the west. A weather prediction I saw this morning says Texas will be the driest it's been in 1000 years.

The quality of hay is more a function of the growing conditions where it's harvested than of the individual company selling it. If I still had pigs and needed hay, I'd be contacting the companies and asking what their quality of hay is this summer and fall.
 

spy9doc

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And there are people who still don't believe in climate change! Good thing KMS hay isn't grown in Texas!

BTW, you certainly have my heartfelt appreciation for continuing to oversee this forum and the amount of time that entails when you no longer have the personal connection! Are you still not giving any consideration to having cavies again? I tried giving them up after Sparky's passing, but found our house entirely too empty. What a joy to once again have wheeks and the sound of zoomies emanating from my home office aka the "piggy room".
 

bpatters

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I've thought about it. But after my husband died, I'd planned to do some traveling, and that's really hard to do because I don't have anyone to look after the pigs. Had I known the coronavirus was going to stop all traveling in its tracks, I might have reconsidered. However, at this point I have an old dog that's nearly completely deaf, going blind, showing neurological symptoms, and driving me nuts. I've also got my niece's dog because it's too rough trying to play with a rescued deformed kitten at their house. And a cat, who has to have some part of his body touching some part of my body, so it's like having a 20-pound tumor attached in odd places, depending on where he last found me. I think I'm animaled out for a while!
 

ItsaZoo

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It sounds like you have quite the furry family! Your cat reminds me of a dog we had, a fox terrier mix. I called her my Velcro dog because she always had to be touching me. Then if I looked over at her she’d get all wiggly.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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We get the big bulk box of Oxbow timothy hay, and my piggies love it!!! Even my Robin Hood, who didn't use to be the best hay eater, devours it :)

It's nice and green, with lots of long soft grassy strands, hay buds, and very fresh smelling. We've got the 84 oz bag a couple of times from Tractor Supply Co., and the bulk box four times from a local privately owned pet store, and haven't had a bad batch yet!


[MENTION=42766]ItsaZoo[/MENTION], your Velcro dog sounds like my dachshund! He doesn't have to be necessarily touching me, but he follows me everywhere, and flops down with big dramatic sighs in front of the door if he's locked out of a room I'm in. And he gets all wiggly every time I come back:love:
 

LemonySnickers

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Thank you for the information [MENTION=19714]spy9doc[/MENTION]. I had no idea when hay was harvested. I'm planning on looking around and maybe contacting KMS to see if I can get a sample of their timothy hay. Thank you for the replies!
 

spy9doc

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I'm planning on looking around and maybe contacting KMS to see if I can get a sample of their timothy hay.

The owners, Dan and Lacie, seem very customer oriented and likely easy to work with. Before you purchase, do look for coupon codes. I found them on a site called CouponsAccess.

Also for questions regarding hay or pellet storage, go to the FAQ page of the KMS site: (broken link removed)
 

hihiduyu

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I've tried Petco Hay but saw that Guinea Dad had their hay. I'm going to try guineadad's hay and see which my pigs prefer. But oxbow wasnt bad
 

SSLee

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GuineaDad's timothy hay is out of stock. I'm allergic to timothy hay and emailed GuineaDad to ask if they are planning to add orchard hay. The response is that they are looking to add other types of hay, including orchard. But no estimated availability was provided.
 

hihiduyu

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Timothy hay is available now at guineadad!
 

Artista

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KMS pellets and bluegrass hay.
SPS orchard grass.
 

SSLee

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@hihiduyu, thank you for posting that GuineaDad's timothy hay is back in stock.

Right now I still have too much hay as I bought an extra 20 pounds when stay-at-home started and then bought 3 flakes from a neighbor, who bought a bale from a local farm. That turned out horribly and a total waste of money. I'm not sure what to do with the terrible coarse and dried out local hay. Might just have to compost all of it. In the meantime, I have almost 25 pounds of hay stored at work and bring home a bagful weekly. On top of that, I bought smaller bags of Oxbow meadow, botanical, and oat hays for the piggies as a treat. Once I get the hays down to a manageable amount, I will order the GuineaDad timothy hay. My niece says my eyes are bigger than my piggies' stomachs and she is right.
 
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