Hay Advice

[scatterbunny]

I am looking into buying a whole bale of hay for my bunny to save money over the pet store prices, I have about 1/2 of a small bag left which wil last me about a week.  I need to buy soon because if the  drought keeps up, hay prices will probably go up soon.  I have 3 options:

local feed store: Costal $15/bale

craigslist: 1.5 hour drive mixed bale localy grown, barn stored “coastal, oat and winter grass” $ 7

2.5 hour drive “Premium Horse hay square bales nice heavy bales, blue stem, orchard timothy and brome mix for 9 a bale”

I have only had Scat for a week and his previous home did not feed him hay, he was pelets, only so there is always a chance he wont like a new hay, he really seems to like the timothy, I dont mind the drive b/c even with gas prices its less expensive than an equal amount of pet store hay and i could definately fit 2 bales in my car.  My question is which would be best?  Is coastal ok or should i get one of the mixed bales?

[Sarita]

I think all would be fine – the question is, which one will he actually eat?

Can you start w/the feed store and see if they will sell you a flake to let Scat try and then go from there? You don’t want to buy a big old bale no matter how cheap and how far and have him not eat it and then you have to store it too.

[Usagi5]

I agree that all would be fine for him as long as he would eat them. Binkybunny does sell mini bales too, if you wanted to try those.

[scatterbunny]

So far he hasnt been too picky, I have picked an assortment of grasses from my yard and he eats them all, I dont water/fertilize/spray so my lawn is an assortment of different grasses and weeds (i call it “natural” lol), I make sure i only pick grasses or dandelions, I have several difffent weeds but since im not sure what they are, he doesnt get any. I am planning on fencing of a small portion of my yard (10×10?) and devoting it to growing “bunny grass” ie whatever grows there minus weeds, unlike the rest of my lawn it will recieve compost and weekly watering. With the drought goint on in Texas, I think watering the entire yard is a waste, plus if you dont water, you dont have to mow. I’m pretty sure he would eat the coastal as I have bermuda grass in my yard and he eats that. but i will definately see if i can get a “sample” next time im in town.

[LoveChaCha]

How many pounds are you getting in the local hay? I got 55 pounds of Orchard grass for $15. It is going to last me quite a while..

[BinkyBunny]

Just make sure that regardless of where you buy that it is horse quality hay, not cattle quality.

[scatterbunny]

Local bales range from 50-65 lbs depending on where you get it from. Two of the sources i know are horse quality, not sure about the 3rd, but i will definately make sure to check. Right now i am leaning toward the $7 bale because it offers some variety, but i may go for the $14 if he will eat it because it will save time and gas, it will cost me around $10 in gas to get it so its not really the cheapest. I’m going to check witht the feed store monday to see if i can get a “sample.”

[Beka27]

I would certainly start at the closest location. It’s not just a matter of the gas money, but also the value of your time. Hopefully they can give or sell you a small sample to try.

[Malp_15]

You could even ask the feed store if you can try the spare hay, the stuff that falls loose from their bales. Usually there will be at least a flake equivalent just sitting loose on the floor/inbetween bales. They can’t sell that stuff anyway, so it shouldn’t be a big deal for them to give you that.

[scatterbunny]

Well Scat prefers Timothy hay if given the choice, however he has no problem eating the coastal hay and has been eating 3-4 handfulls a day. there is more waste with the coastal, but at a fraction of the cost, i dont mind.

Malp, thanks for the advice, they had nearly a full bale worth broken on the floor so i managed to get a trashbag of free hay. I didnt take any that was actually touching the floor to try to avoid dirt/dust, and i sift before i give to him.

[Amys Animals]

I don’t know if you want to order online because I know shipping heavy things costs a lot more but it is what I am going to have to do. You can get a 15 lb bale of hay for $15. If he doesn’t eat a lot of hay it may last a while. I know I was getting 8lb bags of hay for that price and they lasted a while with one bunny who eats a bit of hay.

Here are a couple websites the rescue I communicate with gave me: http://www.kmshayloft.com/hay/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
http://www.sierravalleyhay.com/Orders.html

[LoveChaCha]

KMS Hayloft is not a bad place at all. They are a local, small company for me (I live in Washington and they are based in Eastern WA). The shipping is not bad at all.

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