So my yard has orchard grass..

[Jessica]

When I went to get mint and dandilion greens from my yard, I noticed really long thick grass growing in my yard.. So I checked it out to make sure it wasn’t noxious grass and it was orchard 😮 so I was wondering if I can cut and dry it to give to flopsy or no? I don’t use any chemical treatments or weed killers.

[Azerane]

You could give it fresh or dried If you give it fresh just give a small amount so there’s no gut upset. But there’s no reason you can’t dry it out (make sure it’s well ventilated so it doesn’t go mouldy if you air dry it). But since you’re not using any pesticides etc, it’s perfectly safe

[Jessica]

i did give her a bit of fresh, but i might cut it and let it dry so she can have home grown orchard grass hay this summer, was so excited to find out it was actually orchard grass, its been growing in my yard for years and i never knew it 😮

[Bam]

I’d have been excited too!
You can feed it fresh, only start slow, like Azerane says, then you can increase the amount little by little, to give her tummy a chance to adapt to fresh spring grass. Drying some it is of course an excellent idea, I dry grass and herbs on a fruit-and-mushroom-dryer, it’s so nice to have a few bags in store for winter when nothing is growing.

[Jessica]

i only gave her a little cause i read about it causing tummy upset, but im gonna let it grow a lil longer and cut it and let it dry, wish i known years ago cause it would of saved me a few bales with my one rabbit oreo. i just didnt want to feed anything i didnt know at first. i asked a botanist about it and showed them and they said it was orchard, she loves it fresh and gobble up the handful i mixed with her veggie. just hope i can dry it out perfect and she likes it with her timothy.

[Bam]

They tend to like orchard a lot, it has a sweet taste – although I haven’t actually tasted it myself, I’ve just read that it’s sweet. It also has a nice texture, and it’s practically dust-free I’ve found. I’ve never dried large amounts of hay, farmers do that outside of course, but I’ve no idea how they can make it so it doesn’t get moldy. It’s a terrific resource to have though, your own orchard hay!

[Jessica]

if i can get it to dry and not mold, then ill only feed as a treat hay . I was super surprised to know it even grew in upstate new york, i even shocked my parents that we had some out in our small yard. there is like enough for a mini bale which is fine as ill feed it as a treat but that has me so excited that i can grow my own for the summer! 

[Bam]

If you can dry it indoors f ex spread out on newspaper, and turn it often and don’t harvest when it’s wet I think you can dry it very nicely.

[Azerane]

Yes paper can be used, or even something like a mesh screen is really good because it provides ventilation from the bottom as well. Just keep it out of the sun as the sun will bleach nutrients from it if left too long.

[Jessica]

kk thank you guys very much and ill try it on some screeen we have left over from redoing the screen door.  and i make sure i turn it over so it dries also and thank you so much bam and az

[Jessica]

just cut it by hand and holy orchard grass batman!! its the size of a 96 oz bale, got it on some newspaper drying and wow that was a work out!! Lol but i guess im not running out of hay any time soon!

[Jessica]

well now it drying on a screen amd has been flipped 

[Vienna Blue in France]

Yum yum YUMMY – yes flip it and toss it (like salad) and mix it around loads so NO humidity left at all !!! Lucky bunny !!

[Azerane]

Woah, look at all of that! It even looks yummy to me, lol.

[Jessica]

Lol and that was my first cutting, it grew over half of my lawn and in really thick bunches. Researched that it takes two weeks to dry so I’m gonna keep flipping it over those two weeks, it looks as big as the 46 oz bales from kaytee. I can’t wait to start mixing it into her Timothy.

[Jessica]

Well looks like my orchard grass hay is a hit , she enjoys it as a treat along with her Timothy. It’s very rich and green for being dried for two weeks. Has a very sweet smell also. No mold, dried nicely and she loves it. I guess I got an a plus for my first homegrown bale.

[Q8bunny]

Lucky Flopsy.

[Bam]

Beautiful orchard grass! Flopsie is a lucky bunny!

[Author]

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