Well brown pieces aren’t necessarily moldy pieces. Most of the hay I order always has brown pieces and depending on many factors sometimes it has more brown than others.

You would want to be concerned more about the dusty type hay at the bottom of the box than the brown pieces.

I don’t know where you are getting your hay but I was not happy with the commercial types of hay. I bought two types from Oxbow and Hopscotch nibbled on it but I threw most of it away. I called the rescue where I found Hopscotch and they gave me the name of two local farms that sell hay by the bale for $6.00. Have you ever seen a real bale of hay?! It took up the whole back end of my Suburban! We bought a large Rubbermaid tub to store it in and all is well. The rescue also said that they would be able to set me up with another bunny owner to ‘share the bale’ if I thought that it was too much to purchase at one time.

Have you tried contacting your local rescue or looking for adds in the paper or on Craig’s List to see if any farms sell hay locally?

It is worth a try.

Valerie

I had major hay issues…trying to find what was Yummy and nutritious.  I contacted agricultural schools and local farms.  I even posted on craigslist for input.  I was directed to several feed stores, but they were in the next county and just not convenient to get to.  I now getting binky hay.  The other thought is I know some feed & farm places sell their hay on ebay, if you’re up for that do a search on ebay.  Else I know that you can order hay & food directly from Oxbow—I’m not sure if that’s true for Canada.

I’d be very frustrated too! I am not sure about the black spots – that does sound strange. but – the brown spots is pretty normal. I don’t think the toxin disease is all that common, but looking at some articles online hay doesn’t even have to be moldy to have the toxins developing: http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/myco.html

I order my hay from kmshayloft.com and it’s excellent quality – they’re up in Washington state, so it may be the shipping isn’t quite as bad as other places.

I also use the Sunseed Timothy hay but I’ve never noticed any problems with it. I’ll go through the bag when I get home tonight and take a closer look….

alright I went through the bag last night. Still smelled really sweet and there were minimal brown pieces – no spots.

Maybe there was a bad batch sent to your area? Have you tried purchasing the same brand from a different store?

It could also be that the hay left the factory in good shape, but was not properly cared for in transit or at the store.  If hay is allowed to stay for any length of time in a humid environment, the mold can develop while it is in the packaging.  I did this once by sealing a flake of hay in a plastic trash bag in my garage.  The hay never got wet, but spoiled from the trapped moisture in air in the bag.

I just emailed those guys to see how much shipping to my neck of the woods would be….How much hay is 25lbs? I think that’s must be tonnes hey?

Well when we move and start a shelter we can split the shipping on the hay

i just buy my hay from a pet store and i have had no trouble with it although i do mix it with good quality hay which i have to have shipped to me