Hay Local hay bales?

[Okiesmokes]

I do believe it's time for me to start buying local.. But I'm not sure where to start?

This all came on today when I bought a 96oz bag of timothy hay from Walmart. It was $13 yet I'm always seeing people say that they buy huge bales for $5-$12! It's an outrage I tell you. :grumpy: And the hay I buy is crap to begin with.. Kaytee. It's mostly stems and dust.

So I was wondering where do you buy your hay, for the people who buy locally and not online or anything like that. And what do you ask for? It'd be an even bigger help if someone here is from my area as well.

I told my Nana about my idea of going to a feed store but she said they only sell horse hay? I thought horses ate all types of hay too.. Like alfalfa, timothy, etc.

Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[rebeccars]

I live in Texas, but I get my hay at a local feed store. They have coastal and they sell huge bags of it for $2.75. You could ask them what types of hay they carry.

 

[Cavy Treenie]

The kaytee that I get is just WONDERFUL. Hardly no dust and the dust that there is settles right down in the bottom. When I got my hay, I got it from CL. It was grown especially for small animals, but I didn't like the mess it made in the garage, and was a bit of a hassle for me. Horses do eat timothy hay (I have 7 horses and 2 ponies) and sometimes there will be some chemicals in the hay, so beware of this. I would ask if it is stored indoors, freshly cut (the same year as you are buying because you don't want old hay), and of course chemicals. That is all I can think of for now, keep us posted!

 

[cfoster1966]

Feed stores are a good place to start. It took me awhile to find my supplier but now I buy 2nd or 3rd cutting of the greenest, sweetest organic timothy hay for $3.50 a bale from a local farmer who is a doll to deal with. She chats and loads it in my car. I buy 6-8 bales at once and it last me a year or so with 6 piggies. Yup, that is about $28 for 6 pigs for an entire year for hay. That is way less than any store and I can honestly tell you it is even better than Kleenmamas second cutting! Best part, the farmer is only 7 miles away!

 

[MochaAndMoo]

I get a big bale of Oaten hay for $10 at my local farmer, I still haven't finished the bale yet.

Definitely cheaper and better quality then the hay you buy at pet stores.

 

[bpatters]

@rebeccars , coastal hay doesn't have the same quality of nutrients in it that hay grown farther north does. Be sure your pigs are getting adequate amounts of veggies, and maybe consider one of the Oxbow dietary supplements. Hay should also be fresh and green, and I can't get coastal hay that looks like that anywhere around Houston.

Hay bought from a local farmer is always going to be the cheapest hay you can find, and maybe the freshest, depending on when it was harvested. Hay bought online or shipped in bulk to a local store (Oxbow does this) will be considerably more expensive than local hay, but way less expensive than buying bags of it from a pet store, Walmart, etc.

Absolutely the most expensive way to buy hay is in bags from local stores. If you figure out the cost per pound, you'll find that even with shipping, hay online from places like KMS Hayloft, PetDiner, Sweet Meadow Farm, etc., is a fraction of a cost of bagged local hay.

@Cavy Treenie, you're in one of the premier hay-growing areas in the country. You could get enough hay to last you for a year for less than $10, I'm sure.

 

[Razzle]

I called feed stores and told them I was looking for Timothy Hay for my guinea pigs and it had to be top quality, green, free of weeds, etc. I just got the very nicest Timothy Hay a couple of days ago. It is perfect and just like that that I purchased online and from other sources. I live with seven and the price is now twenty eight cents a pound. And they eat a huge amount of hay. I bought a bale but they also will bag it in smaller amounts at the feed store I found. I had a horrid experience with purchasing from a farm a week ago but chalk this up to learning. For me the feed store was the best. And they were wonderful to work with. And this bale of hay does not require any sorting. It is just all excellent.

 

[Okiesmokes]

Thank you all for the input!

I think I'm going to start with feed stores first and ask for timothy, oaten, and orchard grass. If I can get timothy, I'd rather stick with that. As for chemicals, I just assumed they didn't use those on something an animal would be eating. Goodness. Thank's for letting me know about that.

Hopefully I'll be able to find a good deal like you guys have. It just seems so unreal compared to what I pay now.

 

[Razzle]

The cost was starting to become a problem for providing hay in unlimited amounts. When I had two furry ones that box of hay lasted a long time but with seven it does not last. And I talked with a lady who has ten guinea pigs to care for and she goes through ten pounds a week. I bought a bale that weigh 100 pounds! My guinea pigs are very happy. The hay is not dusty and is just like the hay I was purchasing by the ten pound box. It smells great and no dust. So pleased. But it took me some time to put in the little effort to find it. Wish I had done this months ago.

 

[Okiesmokes]

Ten piggies?! Woah. I only have two and they are plenty enough work for me. And they go through the 96oz bags like its nothing. I plan to start calling a few places tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well.

 

[PrincessAngel]

When I wanted to start using bales of hay me and my dad took some "field trips" to 2 or 3 feedstores . Anywho I found one that did and I just asked "Do you have bales of hay?" and they said yes and so I asked "is it grass hay?" and they told me they had bother bales of plain alfalfa and bales of mixed grass hays(everytime I say it's for guinea pigs they try to sell me bags of hay, which is a lot more expensive!). Depending on when I buy them they range anywhere from $5-$6 and usually around 40lb+. Each time I get hay it's different quality and hay types (can tell based on how my allergies go off ). The best hay I get is timothy with maybe a little orchard grass mixed in (which I am NOT allergic too) and it is super soft and green. I have gotten crappier bales that are stemmy and weedy and are usually brome and bluegrass (which I AM allergic too, I have weirdo hay allergies). But even with the crappier hay that I have to sort, it's still a good deal. I usually buy 2 bales a year. Once around february/march and again in the summer . I think hay in the winter/spring is almost always better than summer and I need to buy another bale soon!

You can ask to pick out your bale, depending on who is working the day I go they usually ask if the bale is okay (it's really hard to tell quality from an unopened bale, my best hay always looks like crap from the outside). My feedstore is one of those run down 100+yr structures in the middle of a suburban environment and has chickens running around everywhere and is just off a floodplain.

 

[Razzle]

I asked for Timothy Hay and they showed me the hay they could bag up for me and it was beautiful and they assured me it was the same as the bales of Timothy Hay for sale so I bought a bale. It is wonderful. I bought a bale of what was supposed to be Timothy Hay from a farm last week and it was awful. I almost had an asthma attack driving home with it in my car. I have thrown it out in many bags. Just dusty and full of crap. Bad experience for me and I will only use feed stores from now on. But it is a learning experience and I had to do something to find a way to purchase at a better price. I have read of others purchasing bales and thankfully I now also buy this way. And those cowboys are very picky about the hay they feed their horses. I was told if I could find someone with horses they would be able to lead me to a great Timothy Hay but at this time I am not in touch with anyone with horses. The feed store had a very nice cowboy working the day I was there and he was a great help. This is the excellent quality hay that I was purchasing online at a huge price.

 

[Cavy Treenie]

@bpatter I wish, a bale of hay is SUPER expensive since the drought this year. The quality of the hay around here is NOT for pigs. The hay around here is for cows and other larger farm animals. Last time I bought hay in a bale it was dusty and had a lot of sticks and remnants of plastic. That is not something I want my piggers eating. I wish though. -_-