Is rabbit hay the same as horse hay?

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Dumb question, I know :/ Lady is eating me out of house and home, we’ve gone through 3 40oz bags of orchard hay in about 2 weeks! I’m looking into buying a bale or 2 of it instead of the oxbow bags, its crazy cheaper for some reason, I just don’t know if its the same…

[Elrohwen]

Yep, it is! Cow hay is different and tends to have a lot more weeds, but horse hay is high quality and works for buns. Just talk to the farmer and find out what the blend is – sometimes they include a lot of alfalfa (which might not be bad for you since Lady is young, but something to consider)

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Ah thank you!! I googled but couldn’t find anything on it.

[Elrohwen]

You’re welcome! We get the 50lb box of Oxbow, but I think next year we’ll try to find a local farmer source, since we have a lot of farms in the area and I’ve seen a few signs up selling hay in the warmer months.

[equalsign]

 When I’ve looked at the classified listings for hay in my area almost all of the horse hays are an alfalfa blend. In fact, I can’t remember one that wasn’t. If they just say grass hay, ask. 50 lb Oxbow boxes are 65 or so from Doctors Foster and Smith. Free shipping. MUCH better price per pound than the 40 oz.

[AbbyGirl]

One of those 50 lbs boxes from Oxbow is about the same amount as a bale of hay. Abby goes through 4 bales a year! If lady is a hay lover be prepared to buy A LOT of hay. We buy from local hay farms (horse hay). I just make sure that they tell me the percentage of alfalfa that is in their mix if I can’t find straight Timothy hay.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Ok I feel like I’m missing something :/ I just called my local pet supply because they sell hay bales for horses, they said it was second cut. I asked if they knew what kind, and the girl said its horse hay. So I asked if it was timothy or orchard or alfalfa, and she said no, its horse hay. Rabbit hay is timothy in the bags, the bales are horse hay.

[mocha200]

Sounds like that lady doesn’t know what she is talking about. Most of the time farmers call their hay either Alfalfa Hay or Grassy Hay, I always ask what kind of Grassy hay it is and I go and look at it before I buy it.

[AbbyGirl]

Oh, she probably didn’t know what it was. Unfortunately, just because a pet supply sells it doesn’t mean they know what it is. I look on craigslist for ours. Most farmers here sell a mix for horses that’s timothy, orchard and alfalfa. I just make sure the aflalfa is 25% or less.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

I’m looking on craigslist, there just isn’t anything closer than an hour and even then, I wouldn’t know if what I’m looking at is good :/ Maybe I’ll put an ad out

[Angela]

I buy my hay here, and have it shipped

http://www.kmshayloft.com/hay/

The third cut timothy is to die for.

[Lis]

I buy the timothy/orchard mix my mom gets for her horses off her. Cortana loved it. Navi picks out all the orchard and only eats it.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

Thanks Angela, but thats still really expensive. You might want to get some 1st or 2nd cut though, 3rd cut doesn’t have enough fiber to be the main hay for a rabbit. (http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-7/hay.html)

[AbbyGirl]

Fresh hay is hard to find this year. Around here we didn’t have a good crop and a lot of hay farmers decided to grow a different crop to make more money instead of growing their hay.
You just want to ask if it’s been exposed to any rain and make sure that it is green and has a nice smell to it. If it’s not good hay it won’t smell good.

[Lis]

Oh also – rather than trying to get it shipped (we get our hay from PA while we live near DC), I would suggest trying to find a barn near you that pools together to get hay for their horses (you’re more likely to find this at one that requires you do all the feeding/mucking) and ask if you can just get a couple bales.

[tobyluv]

 

Maybe you could either call or go by that pet supply store and see if you can talk to someone else who actually knows what the hay variety is.  If you go by there, you can check out the hay, see  how fresh it looks and smells, and probably determine the variety yourself if there is no one working there who knows what they have.

 

[Tipsy Bunny]

That lady had no idea what she was doing. There are many types of horse hays. And it all depends on where you are located. Where I am, alfalfa is grown more vast and cheapest, and bermuda is second. Timothy is almost nonexistent where I am, really sucks. Timothy and Bermuda are grass hays, alfalfa is a legume. Anyways, between horse hays and rabbit hays, the only difference is, where and when it is cut. Some places have high quality hays and some dont. You just have to check the reputation of the farmer, and if you have the opportunity, check his hay… give it a sniff test, snap test, make sure there are no bugs or other objects inside the bales, and make sure the color looks as it should for what cut it is. Now for horses, they require long stems, if not, they dont eat it as readily. With that said, the later the cuts, the more available for rabbits because they are have more leaves and shorter stems.

maybe I should grow my own hay 

oh btw, instead of checking a pet supply, check your local livestock supply store, they would be very knowledgable in their hays.  They may not have rabbit or dog or cat stuff, but when it comes to hay, they really know what they are talking about, or at least they should 

[LittlePuffyTail]

My horse eats Timothy bales. I can buy them from my horse’s stable for $3.00 a bale but my buns are too fussy and won’t eat it. It’s quite coarse and I think that’s why. They are too lazy to do all that chewing. Too bad because it would save me a ton of money! I buy the 25lb Oxbow for $35.00.

[Lazee]

my girls are funny, when I first take the hay out of the bag they go at it but any that sets for a day or two, you can actually see it loose some of it’s green color they only pick at it.

I have been considering buying a bale and see how it goes, can’t loose but a few dollars if they turn their noises up at it.

Use to have horses some years ago and they loved orchard grass, a softer hay to handle to. I have this 15 ac field and cut grass, shopping bag full from it daily but have no idea what kind of grass it is except I know it’s not alfalfa, but the girls eat every blade like they are starving.

[equalsign]

Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 11/05/2011 05:15 AM
My horse eats Timothy bales. I can buy them from my horse’s stable for $3.00 a bale but my buns are too fussy and won’t eat it. It’s quite coarse and I think that’s why. They are too lazy to do all that chewing. Too bad because it would save me a ton of money! I buy the 25lb Oxbow for $35.00.

Out of curiosity, why do you buy the 25 lb box over the 50 lb box? Does it not keep too well between only a couple rabbits?

[MountainBuns]

Horse hay is perfectly fine. I use it all the time for my bunny Caroline and she loves it. Its also good for me because it is cheaper and lasts me months!!!

[jerseygirl]

I’m locking this thread now as it is from 2011.

[Author]

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