From the research I’ve done, Meadow hay is just as recommended as Timothy. In every store I’ve found they have Meadow hay right next to Timothy, I just don’t buy it because its more expensive. If I were you I would snatch up as much as I could as long as it doesn’t/hasn’t gone bad at all. Make sure it’s very dry, no moisture in the hay or mold will grow in it. It can’t be yellow/golden or from my experience buns won’t eat it (plus it’s not fresh or healthy). Just make sure there are no thorns, bad branches etc. in it and it should be fine. Super lucky for finding such a great deal!

The smell is the best way to tell if it’s good. It should smell good. It should obvously not be wet or moldy, but I very much doubt you’d buy wet or moldy hay =) Horse hay is good. If you tell a horse owner what we bun owners pay for a pound bag of Oxbow hay they think we’re crazy people. (We probably are crazy people, come to think of it). If you have more than one bun farm hay is great. I had the loveliest farm meadow hay when I had two buns.

Meadow hay is common here both for horses and buns and piggies.

Haha I reckon it would take about a year to get through 75kg of hay!

Although it makes my £3 for 1kg bags seem very unreasonable 

I think I saw that you feed them Friendly Readigrass right?
I found a website that does it at £3 a bag timeforpaws. I also used to pay £5 a bag for it

Mine mostly eat the pure dried grass one, which i’m a bit concerned isn’t fibrous enough. I mix the timothy in, but they tend to turn their little noses up at it! I just got some of the green oat in my last order, so I’ll see how that one goes down.

Luckily I also have a friend with a farm who makes her own hay, and they happily eat that. It’s much less grassy, so I hopefully they’re getting a good enough mix.

My main issue with meadow hay (at least here) is that often it’s full of clover. So just make sure that it’s grassy, and doesn’t have lots of clover in it.

I know Oxbow has meadow hay, but the only one we can get here in the sandpit is the Chipsi kind, and Bam is right about the sniff test. Some bags smell heavenly (to the point where I spread some out under my nightstand so I could get wafts of it as I slept and Chewie cleaned it up). Other bags are just meh, and those we pass on.

Yes, small roundish leaves as opposed to long grass stems. If only it was that simple when a bale is full of them But if there’s only an odd one here or there then you can pick them out certainly

I think pet shops must put something in their hay that enhances the taste or the smell because every time I’ve bought from a pet shop or walmart etc. the hay has always smelled great but I am really allergic to it and so it George, my rex. I think it’ll be fine.

I think it’ll be fine, there shouldn’t be a problem. If you think there’s something wrong then by all means, don’t give it to them. It should be fine tho, especially if it was sold to lots of people.

I think if they’re eating it at all, then it probably isn’t mouldy or bad, it’s probably just that it’s not what they’re used to.

Hey everyone! I’m so curious now, is clover a bad thing? My bunnies love it, but if it’s bad for them, I’ll pick it out too! Is it just high in calories or calcium/protein or is there something else not good about it?

Dee, clover can cause gas in some buns, but the reason it’s not good for buns is the high calcium and protein.

Oh… *light goes in dimly lit brain*… perhaps that could be causing Luke some issues! Or maybe some weed or plant mixed in with the 1st cut hay. It has lots of different looking stuff, all grassy looking and nothing really strange, but perhaps just too much for certain bunnies to handle.