Hay Is the Hay Okay For Piggies to Eat?

[DoD09]

Hello,

My coworker gave me some hay that's been sitting in his house from when his family had guinea pigs. I don't remember how long he has had the hay but I do remember him telling me that someone else was supposed to come get it 2 weeks ago but never did. Originally his family was going to give it to a small animal shelter but kindly let me have it after learning I have guinea pigs of my own.

I've noticed the hay strand were a bit longer than what I'm used to and just wanted to get a second opinion about it and if it's okay for my guinea pigs to eat. The bag reads Oxbow and that's the brand I've always feed my guinea pigs. I usually order my timothy hay on Petsmart and buy the 90oz bag size.


Here's pictures of how the hay look like.

 

[bpatters]

See if you can find an expiration date on the package. Hay will hold almost all of its nutritional value for two years, so if it's no older than that, it should be OK.

 

[DoD09]

I checked the bag and the expiration date said March 22, 2018. So would it still be good till 2020? Also, is there a reason why the strand is a lot longer than the ones I get at the pet store? I’ve ordered Timothy hay 50lbs on PetSmart last year and the strand weren’t long like the one in the bag here.

 

[Soecara]

Yes it would still be good until march 2020.

The strands length is simply from when it was harvested, how long it was when it was cut and how the farmer cut it. Hay can vary a lot from season to season and from one farm to another, even the different cuts in the same season from the same farm are different when it comes to timothy.

 

[bpatters]

It'll be good after March, 2020. Hay loses less than 5% of its nutritional value in two years, so it's not like it's going to go bad by April, 2020.