Hay Fiber Content/Coarseness

[MimzMum]

I know there’s got to be a table around here on Binky somewhere, but I can’t remember where I’ve seen it. So I need to ask a quick question here.

 

Does anyone know the relative fiber and coarseness of the different hays? Can they be listed in order of highest to lowest in each catergory?

i.e. Timothy- #1 in fiber, then orchard, then ?, etc….

Then a table for coarseness (ability to grind the tooth surface while chewing).

I am curious. Mimzy is still being picky about his hay and, since he’s having tooth troubles, I’d like to get him to eat SOMETHING to help grind down his teeth, plus keep things on the inside flowing nicely.

Many thanks!

[Scarlet_Rose]

Timothy is coarser and takes more effort to grind down for digestion, have you tried meadow grass hay? The strands are thinner and don’t take quite so much chewing action. I thought we had a table like that too. It’s lunch time for me, so I’ll take a look afterwards to see if I can find it.

[MimzMum]

Hm, Mimzy and Pip won’t touch meadow grass. They like orchard, wheat, oat and they are mercurial about eating their timothy. Pip is not as picky, but likes her variety and pretty much mows through just about anything I give her. I am mostly wanting to make sure Mimzy eats hay, but also doesn’t miss out on grinding something over those teeth so he keeps them filed.
Today I added a wood block and a few other chewing blocks on a hanging pin, plus some willow sticks and a little oat hay to his pile of orchard grass. He doesn’t really seem to be eating much hay. He WILL eat his pellets, which I have cut back just a bit. He also snarfed his greens. But I just don’t feel he’s eating a lot of hay and if he’s going to be minimalist about it, then I want the highest fiber/coarseness for what little he does eat. If he doesn’t seem to be improving in this area by next week, I am taking him back to the vet and that will mean putting him under to check those molars better.

Needless to say, he’ll still grab the bars with his teeth and rattle the cage door for treats, so he can’t be too bad off. ~_~ But I notice he’ll just use his top front teeth to do that now. He is being persnickety about me hypnotizing him, so I can’t get a good look at the lower fangs to see if the trim went awry.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’ve tried meadow grass a few times and nobody likes it, it looks pretty yucky too. I blend timothy with a bit of alfalfa for a treat, but our timothy is really good.

I’m going to be ‘buying’ a round bale from Nanci (the horse rescue) because I’ll never use a whole one, and then I can just grab hay and take it home.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh dear. Can you find hay that isn’t in such long strands and see if that helps?

[osprey]

I think that first cut timothy is the coarsest/highest fiber hay you can get. After that, probably orchard grass and brome, followed by second cut timothy. I have never seen a second cut orchard grass, but I assume it is similar to the second cut timmy.

[MimzMum]

Thanks guys! Yes, I’ve been hearing brome hay a lot. I am curious to try it and see if I can get the bunnies to one uniform hay. Does anyone have any nutritional info on brome hay?

[Scarlet_Rose]

O.K. I am digging up some references for ya Mimz!

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-7/hay.html

Here is the mother-lode of nutrional info on hay:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-3/fiber.html

[MimzMum]

Thanks Rose! *goes to check linkies*

[Scarlet_Rose]

You’re welcome sweetie!

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