Hay If it isn't oxbow....

[NM_MOM]

There is a feed place near where I live and they have Timothy mixed with Orchard hay for $15 a bail. It's from Colorado. No brand etc... Would this still be a good choice to feed the piggies?

 

[bpatters]

Hay doesn't have brands. Big corporations, like Oxbow, Sweet Meadow Farms, KMS, etc, buy hay from farmers and package it for distribution. A mixture of timothy and orchard grass is fine and that's a great price -- just make sure it doesn't have alfalfa or fescue mixed in with it.

 

[pinky]

If you buy it, I'd suggest you really examine it and look up images of anything that looks different. I bought a bale of meadow grass that turned out to be loaded with alfalfa. I didn't even realize it until I googled images of hay and grass and discovered a photo of alfalfa. You can also find out who buys from them and ask about their experience with them.

 

[NM_MOM]

Hay doesn't have brands. Big corporations, like Oxbow, Sweet Meadow Farms, KMS, etc, buy hay from farmers and package it for distribution. A mixture of timothy and orchard grass is fine and that's a great price -- just make sure it doesn't have alfalfa or fescue mixed in with it.

What is Fescue? I guess I really need to go study hay. also is there more of chance of my piggies get fleas or mites or something from a bale of hay vs. packaged oxbow hay?

 

[bpatters]

You can google it and find pictures. As a grass, it's not a bad forage. The problem is that for several years, there was a widespread blight that killed a lot of cattle and sickened some other animals. They've worked on eradicating the blight, but it isn't visible on the fescue, so you don't know whether you're getting it or not. It's just better to avoid it.

 

[piggiepigpigs75]

Hay doesn't have brands. Big corporations, like Oxbow, Sweet Meadow Farms, KMS, etc, buy hay from farmers and package it for distribution. A mixture of timothy and orchard grass is fine and that's a great price -- just make sure it doesn't have alfalfa or fescue mixed in with it.

I live near sweet meadow farms and they are no where near a big corporation. They are just a small farm

 

[pocketmonster]

Hay doesn't have brands. Big corporations, like Oxbow, Sweet Meadow Farms, KMS, etc, buy hay from farmers and package it for distribution. A mixture of timothy and orchard grass is fine and that's a great price -- just make sure it doesn't have alfalfa or fescue mixed in with it.

I'm glad I read this! I was wondering why the hay from Walmart in Charlotte, NC is a horrible, straw-like mix and the grass here in Greenville, NC is lovely, fresh meadow grass. At $3.67 for a 24 oz. bag, that's an insane steal! For KayTee hay, it's better than the OxBox I can get here. 90 oz. goes for about $12. Eastern NC is wonderfully fertile so I figured the farms around here supply the hay (or something like that).


Random, I know, but thanks for the info!

 

[NM_MOM]

also is there more of chance of my piggies get fleas or mites or something from a bale of hay vs. packaged oxbow hay? or do they not get those things from hay

 

[Artista]

I got Kaytee timothy hay as part of my beginner gp kit. I've read that they dye their hay to make it greener. I tossed it after this. Personally I get my 3rd cut timothy hay and bluegrass hay (which is naturally mostly green) from KMS Hayloft online. It's a lot of hay that lasts a loooong time, and the price is cheap even with shipping considering you are definately getting quality. Oxbow and KMS Hayloft are the buzz words I found when researching the best for piggies on many gp sites so I use Oxbow cavy cuisine pellets for my adult piggie and KMS hay.

 

[oldnewie]

as far as I know piggies can't get mites from hay because they need a living host. then again some hay could make them itchy especially if it is dusty. watch out for what's called leaf shatter where the hay crumbles & leaves a thick layer of dirty crumble & dust due to being old &/or stored wrongly. oh gosh suddenly I feel unsure - someone more experienced could tell you or you could google & see what answer comes up. sorry.

 

[Coughingcolours]

This is on KAYTEE's website. Their FAQ page.


Are the colors in your products all natural?

The colors used in the Kaytee products are not all natural. We use safe USDA approved colors that are also used in pharmaceuticals and other human grade products.

 

[Artista]

This is on KAYTEE's website. Their FAQ page.


Are the colors in your products all natural?

The colors used in the Kaytee products are not all natural. We use safe USDA approved colors that are also used in pharmaceuticals and other human grade products.

Kaytee should not be selling animal food/products. I don't care how 'safe' it is it still can't be good. There is also a lot of sugar in their colored bird pellets, so it was very difficult to convert my birds who were eating this to the good quality stuff.

 

[Coughingcolours]

Kaytee should not be selling animal food/products. I don't care how 'safe' it is it still can't be good. There is also a lot of sugar in their colored bird pellets, so it was very difficult to convert my birds who were eating this to the good quality stuff.

I wasn't trying to say they're good, at all!! Just show that they DO use dyes, and so we as owners shouldn't get that stuff. Sorry for the confusion, it was late when I posted that, and I was getting kind of delirious, haha.

 

[Artista]

I wasn't trying to say they're good, at all!! Just show that they DO use dyes, and so we as owners shouldn't get that stuff. Sorry for the confusion, it was late when I posted that, and I was getting kind of delirious, haha.

I was agreeing with you by talking about their crappy bird food. Sorry if I misworded my comment.

 

[Pigalicious]

When I first got my girls I was waiting on a shipment from KMS so I bought a package of Kaytee to tide us over. The girls wouldn't go near it. And when I got my hay from KMS I knew why they turned their noses up at the Kaytee. Or as I call it, Craptee. The KMS is so fresh and soft! The girls love it too. I get their Timothy hay and pellets. Well worth the money.

 

[pocketmonster]

The KayTee hay I get in the typical bag is delicious meadow grass. I live in fertile Eastern NC so we have a better selection of hay due to all of the farms around here and I haven't been disappointed this year. I even get these bags from WalMart. I have had horses my entire life so I know what good hay vs. bad hay looks like, smells like and even sounds like.

I have NEVER gotten a good bag of OxBow. It's always yellow, stiff, straw-like nonsense that my ladies won't touch and I pay almost three times the amount of KayTee hay. However, my number one preference for good hay is taken straight from the horses' mouth (well, sort of). The hay my gelding eats at his farm in Charlotte, NC is also deliciously sweet and fresh hay, so when I'm home, I get small bales for free.

I'd also like to point out that considering the dry nature of hay, I'd be interested to know if it's even possible to dye hay... I'm gonna have to go ahead and guess that it isn't. I don't know about the rest of KayTee products but their hay is really just fine.

 

[Artista]

The KayTee hay I get in the typical bag is delicious meadow grass. I live in fertile Eastern NC so we have a better selection of hay due to all of the farms around here and I haven't been disappointed this year. I even get these bags from WalMart. I have had horses my entire life so I know what good hay vs. bad hay looks like, smells like and even sounds like.

I have NEVER gotten a good bag of OxBow. It's always yellow, stiff, straw-like nonsense that my ladies won't touch and I pay almost three times the amount of KayTee hay. However, my number one preference for good hay is taken straight from the horses' mouth (well, sort of). The hay my gelding eats at his farm in Charlotte, NC is also deliciously sweet and fresh hay, so when I'm home, I get small bales for free.

I'd also like to point out that considering the dry nature of hay, I'd be interested to know if it's even possible to dye hay... I'm gonna have to go ahead and guess that it isn't. I don't know about the rest of KayTee products but their hay is really just fine.

I believe Kaytee admitted to dyeing their hay but the color is FDA ok'd blah blah blah... I can't stand the for profit no matter what the food for example consists of mentality.

 

[pocketmonster]

There aren't any press releases saying one thing or the other, so I really would like to know a source for that information because if that's the case, I'll start stock piling the free bales I get for the few month's I'm away at college instead of resorting to buying KayTee (as mentioned, the OxBow here isn't an option).


EDIT: "Kaytee has adopted a special seed coloring process using state-of-the-art equipment. This current technology allows us to produce a much more vivid
color with an even lower amount of coloring than was used previously. This
coloring method is the same used to coat pharmaceutical tablets and
confectioneries such as M&M candies. Even though the color is brighter, there is
actually less coloring being applied.
Extruded foods are colored by mixing small amounts of aqueous dye into the
product at the beginning of the cooking process. This allows efficient dye
penetration and creates a uniform and controllable color of the finished product"

(broken link removed)

I think it's all referring to dying the pellets in their food, which I don't buy. I do get Oxbow for their pellets.

 

[Artista]

There aren't any press releases saying one thing or the other, so I really would like to know a source for that information because if that's the case, I'll start stock piling the free bales I get for the few month's I'm away at college instead of resorting to buying KayTee (as mentioned, the OxBow here isn't an option).


EDIT: "Kaytee has adopted a special seed coloring process using state-of-the-art equipment. This current technology allows us to produce a much more vivid
color with an even lower amount of coloring than was used previously. This
coloring method is the same used to coat pharmaceutical tablets and
confectioneries such as M&M candies. Even though the color is brighter, there is
actually less coloring being applied.
Extruded foods are colored by mixing small amounts of aqueous dye into the
product at the beginning of the cooking process. This allows efficient dye
penetration and creates a uniform and controllable color of the finished product"

(broken link removed)

I think it's all referring to dying the pellets in their food, which I don't buy. I do get Oxbow for their pellets.

All I can attest to is I have a big hag of timothy hay still in Kaytees plastic bag, for 4 months now. I look at the hay and don't see any browning hays. Maybe some that are less green is all. I got suspicious and ordered hay from KMS Hayloft. They told me that it is very rare to have a hay harvest be all green, there's bound to be some brown. The batch I got was 5% brown and I was told this was a good season. So I'm suspicious why especially keeping it in a bag which you aren't supposed to do because it needs to breath, it's still this beautiful all green stuff in there. There's some brownish "twig" length type of thing in there but no brownish strands at all. I chose to err on the safe side and go with what seems logical to me is that how can it be that there is no brown/browning in this large bag?

 

[pocketmonster]

All I can guess is that the hay comes from different suppliers. There is some natural browning in my bag... I'm not trying to argue or anything! It's just up to personal preference. I'm simply glad that I can get good quality hay for my ladies on my shoestring college budget. Different floats for different folks, ya know?