Thanks Bam for alerting me.
Anyone who ever has a store question, I strongly encourage you to email us by clicking on “contact us” at the bottom of our site pages or give us a call! (phone number on contact us page – we do not post that info here as spam bots just scrape that info and will spam all day long. No thank you)
Regarding the question:
Hi! My bunny Allen LOVES oat hay, but oxbow only makes the 15oz bags which is getting expensive, and Tractor Supply doesn’t carry it. To save money, I was going to get the mini hay bales from the BB store, but there are two kinds: “young” and “mature”. I think the oxbow stuff is young, but I could be wrong about that? What is the difference between young and mature hay, besides the color and age?
Oxbow sells oat hay that has, for the most part, NO seeds. It’s younger than the Young oat we sell. I would say it is “infant” oat. Because the seeds haven’t even developed in the husk yet. Which would be the least fattening of all the oat hays. The seed husks are just that — only the husks which provide a “tease” of a seed. No actual seed in the seed husk. This is a wonderful option for those bunnies that don’t do well with seeds in general .
The Binky Young and Mature Oat actually do have the seeds. And the YOUNG oat seeds are hard, not fully developed — NOT good for young bunnies under a year as they are harder to digest, but just fine for bunnies at least a year old, and MANY bunnies love this stage because the grass is green and has specific “young oat” taste. It is one of the most popular oat brands we have.
The mature oat has mature seeds which are softer and more palatable for more mature bunnies who are at least a year old. The hay is typically golden in color and has a sweeter taste.(though I personally have never tried it. LOL). It is the next most popular hay.
While I know there is a controversy about “seeds” being a bad thing, this really has more to do with consumption. The oat hays are high in fiber and low in calcium (more so than any other hay) and while they do have actual “seeds” heads that bunnies love, this is different than just feeding a plethora of seeds. These are sparce….and in their natural form, mixed with high fiber that makes a wonderful mix!
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