Oxbow Hay

[ADEE]

At first when i got the oxbow hay i wasnt all that impressed with it, through the bag it looked just like any regular hay, no more green then petco, and even seemed more inconvient because it was in long strands vs small “flakes” of hay like petco does.. but once i opened the bag oh my goodness!! the hay is more green, more lush and even though its long strands Rain is eating it better then she ever did the petco hay… so its greener, more lush looking and less is being wasted! I will NOT buy another bale of petco timothy thats for sure!

anyone debating the oxbow hay, try it! Its worth every extra penny

[BinkyBunny]

I agree. Oxbow is a great brand. They can go through rough patches like any hay company – where the season has been harsh on hays, but in general I appreciate all of the products that come from that company.

[osprey]

It is funny, my spoiled little brats generally disapprove of Oxbow hays.  They much prefer the orchard grass hay that I get from the feed store.  They absolutely love the American Pet Diner 2nd cut timothy, but not the APD first cut.  Timothy hays tend to have fat stems, and I think mine do not like that.  They prefer the long leaves of the orchard grass.  Anita at For Other Living Things, who is a hay expert, said that the hay we get in packages at the store is drier than the hays you get in a feed store.  Since it has to spend time sitting on a shelf in a store, the packaged hays are dried longer before packaging.  She thought that mine prefered the feed store hay because it contained more moisture.

[ADEE]

maybe we just got lucky this time then… the oxbow i picked up was from the feedstore, last time i got hay was from petco where thy do not carry oxbow… it might not always be that way then i suppose. ((shrug)) spoiled bunnies hahaha

[Sarita]

Mine love the APD 2nd cutting timmy too. They generally dissapprove of Oxbow as well.

I’ve also like KMS Hayloft as well for her 2nd and 3rd cut timothy as well. The previous box of her 2nd cut was a young 2nd cut and was more stemmy than APD’s 2nd cut.

I do love the Oxbow brand all around though because they cater to our small animals and I approve of that :~)

[ADEE]

Im just hoping the next time igo to get it its not all yucky and brown… lol, now that ive gotten all excited about it

[JK]

Osprey – I have noticed that too with the orchard hay.  The hay I get from SaveABunny is much softer than at another place.  Does that matter?  I have often thought that it does have more moisture but then It definitely dries out pretty quickly.

[JK]

ADEE – You mentioned you didn’t like the long strands?  Well I have read that that’s what is better than the short strands.  Am I wrong? Edson loves to pull out those super long strands.

[Sarita]

Oxbow says the stem-like pieces have the most beneficial fiber so I’m not certain it’s necessarily the long strands.

I can’t understand that either what difference does it make when it’s chewed up anyway so I think they must really mean is the stem is more fibrous than the head or flower.

[ADEE]

i understand if the stem is has most nutrients but why not cut it in half lol.. i cant imagine much nutrition is lost when simply cutting the hay stems in half. Its a real pain when im trying to separate a nice piece of hay and i have big pieces falling all over the place hahaha

[osprey]

I did read a discussion of long fiber vs. short fiber.  I think the point that they were trying to make was that some of the benefit of the fiber was lost when the hay was pulverized to make pellets.  When the rabbit eats the whole leaf and chews it, they are getting more of the benefit of the fiber.

[Author]

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