What is this plant?…Update

[Luna]

Luna got a new bale of Orchard hay delivered today, and I’m seeing a lot of these plants mixed in. I’m thinking they are just immature seed heads? Or is it some weed that is not safe for her to eat?

[Bam]

It looks like immature seed heads, but possibly from some other type of grass than orchard.

[BanditCamp]

Orchard grass doesn’t normally have seed heads. You would normally find this with first or second cut hay but don’t feed your bun it.

[Bam]

Orchard can have seed heads, but I agree with BanditCamp that you normally don’t get it when you buy orchard grass hay. Not Oxbow, anyway. But the plants do develop seed heads, my brother has lots of orchard grass. Once it’s gone to seed, Bam isn’t interested though, he only wants what I cut in May-June.

You could perhaps email the hay company. They ought to know what it is. It’s probably some grass that’s ok for buns, but I can’t say exactly what.

[Luna]

Ok. I emailed Oxbow and will wait to hear what they say before I feed Luna it. I looked up some pics online and it looks like fescue? Anyone heard of it before?

[LBJ10]

Reminds me of fescue as well.

[Luna]

It also kind of reminds me of some sort of meadow grass. Either way, odd how it got in the Orchard bale. I probably won’t hear back from the company until Monday at the earliest. If it does turn out to be fescue, is that something buns can eat? Or am I looking at a replacement order .

[Luna]

Ahhh! …plus 1 rock now too. Geez lol.

[LBJ10]

I’m squinting a bit trying to see the detail. LOL The wispiness reminds me of fescue. It could possibly be brome as well. Brome is very common in fields.

Fescue itself is not harmful. In some areas, there may be an increased risk of endophyte toxicitiy associated with fescue. It really seems to depend on the region though and there is a lot of debate about whether endophytes affect rabbits the same way they do horses. There may be some effect, but I’ve never heard of a rabbit dying from eating fescue. Especially if it is a small amount. I’m saying this because I don’t want to scare you. LOL After all, I’m sure wild bunnies eat fescue all the time.

If it’s brome, I don’t think there is anything to be worried about. Anyway, I wouldn’t throw the hay away. Fescue or brome, I doubt there’s a ton of it in there. They are sort of weeds in an orchard grass pasture.

[Luna]

I think it’s ok too, and hopefully the company will confirm. They better get back to me before I get home from work tomorrow because it smells awesome…and someone is giving me the “What are you waiting for I smell that new fresh hay!” stink eye. I’m trying to pick around it but the plant is so skinny. I swear the photo quality looked better on my iphone lol. I’ll try a close up.

[LBJ10]

In that picture, it looks like tall fescue.

[Luna]

The company just got back to me and apologized, identifying the plant as non-toxic Cheatgrass. So I googled cheatgrass…my pic looks nothing like cheatgrass . I kindly asked the rep to take another look, and asked if they thought it could be fescue instead. We’ll see what happens. Either way, I’ve decided it’s probably safe for Luna to eat, though I’ll try to pick out as much as I can because there is a large quantity of it.

[Luna]

Survey says…we were all correct lol. I send some more pics, and they said it is still cheatgrass (related to brome plants), but it could also be bluegrass or fescue – all of which are safe for buns. I’m very happy with the company’s response, and am going to send their requested information so that they can do a quality assurance check. Luna will be happy to eat fresh hay tonite .

[BanditCamp]

Another reason I love oxbow at least their responsible

[Bam]

That was quick of them! That is good service!

It does look like brome or tall fescue:
http://www.uwyo.edu/plantsciences/uwplant/forages/forage-photos-grasses.html

[LBJ10]

Cheatgrass seeds have long flexible barbs on them. They can actually become embedded in the skin if, say a dog, were to get one stuck between their toes. This is Oxbow though? No way is that cheatgrass. Wrong time of year. I think it’s fescue. It looks like fescue.

[Luna]

BanditCamp – I like the company even more now than I did before lol.

Bam – Super quick! One of the emails I sent her, she replied back in 1 minute 

LBJ10 – Yep it’s Oxbow. I’ve never had a problem with their hay before, and I’m just glad it wasn’t something toxic to buns, mine or anyone else’s. The orchard bale is 9 lbs, and with other companies I’ve purchased from, I feel like the bigger the bale you buy, the greater the odds are that you might find something foreign in there. Though the previous 9 lb. bale I bought from them didn’t have anything foreign in it.

[BanditCamp]

Well with a bale you have the chance of getting something strange. The hay I get I sort myself and I ensure it’s alfalfa for my baby boy.

[Author]

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