I had a dead bird in my Oxbow bag once, and they let me return the hay. Obviously they threw it out xD I’ve had mixed bags from almost any brands. It honestly just depends on when they cut the hay.

You can always e-mail Oxbow with pictures and information about your order. If they find it justifiable, they may send you a replacement bag, but as A&B mentions, all brands of hay will have some amount of variation, since the process is simply waiting for the grass to grow and deciding when is the best time to harvest within their hundreds of acres. Within that time frame, there can be a patch that has wilted earlier, a bird that’s swooped in at a poor time, etc.. I find Oxbow is generally consistent, but if that’s not your observation, you can try other brands or buying smaller bags. If you buy hay in-person (not online), you can use the see-through panes in the bags to preview what the hay quality is like.

To be honest, I just had this happen to me twice in a row with a very expensive 5 pound box of online only in my area Timothy hay! The minute I opened the last box I knew I was in trouble! The smell was completely off and the hay was nothing but scrap dust and brown crap! Had I not already complained about the box I got before it, I would have gotten them on the phone for sure with this one but at this point I just called it quits! Only problem for me is that my bunny really had shown me that this was the only hay she was willing to eat so I felt over a barrel, but at this price, $30/ 5 lb. I really felt the quality needed to be more reliable, natural product aside! I had been seeing some issues that had made me want to look into another company for hay before so I had tried Small Pet Select back in December, but she seemed completely uninterested in it even though it looked like very nice (and completely intact not crushed into a small box obliterated into dust) hay. She only began eating little pieces of it after I gave up and threw the box away a month and a half later after she ignored it! Silly girl. Happily though, I remembered that she did not completely ignore it last time, Oxbow, she completely ignored, so this time I went to SPS and so far so good…. hoping to stick with them from here on in…

E-mail them. Oxbow has great customer service. But I would probably try to return the bag first. I don’t shop at Petsmart so unsure of their policies, but my pet store (Global Pet Foods) will take back bad opened hay. I’ve returned several bags for replacements. But mention the problem to Oxbow too, even if you can return it. Keep the info on the bag (production # and expiry date).

I only buy Oxbow product for my hay and it’s usually pretty consistent. However with certain types of hay, particularly Organic Meadow Hay which my bunnies love, always has brown dead hay mixed in. It’s kind of a nuisance because I have to pick it out of the good hay and there is always a considerable amount of it. 

I’ve noticed that their quality is not as high as it once was. I have bought two bags recently with bad experience. One bag was all dust. Literally no long, green strands. It even smelled bad. The second was full of very brown, hard, dried hay. I’m not sure what’s going on. Rain used to literally live in her litter box, because she loved their hay. Now I have tons of trouble getting her to eat it, because every other brand of hay isn’t good enough for her, lol. Spoiled bun.

I used to get oxbowbut I stopped getting it because it’s super expensive. I now get hay from doctors Foster & Smith and it’s just as good quality. Except it’s cut a bit short so it’s not that long but other then that my little buns love it! I haven’t received any bad bags yet so that’s a plus and I’ve been ordering that brand for over a year.