Big Bale Of Farm Hay - Bedding Or Ok For Food Too?

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After purchasing mainly Supreme Hay (lovely stuff!) from Amazon at the bargain less than £3 for 2KG and free p&p, its now shot back up to over £4 + £1.50 pp.:td:

I tried just getting a few packs to keep me going from Tesco. Most were fine most weeks but yesterday they sent two packs that just smelled bad, so I chucked them.:box:

I popped into my local pet shop and discovered that as well as the small meadow hay commercial packs they have huge bales of hay for sale for only £10. They smell lovely and are nice and clean and dry, but its not as green looking as the hay I usually purchase which I used for both bedding and food SO is there a difference in the meadow hay sold direct to pet stores and the stuff the farmers make into huge bales for large animal feed?

I may be a country girl but haven't a clue if the hay cut from a local meadow is the same as the Meadow hay in the packet. Do they just package it up fancy-dancy for the pet shop or is it different?

Please help if you can solve this puzzle - I am happy to keep the bale for bedding only but need to know if its also fine if they choose to eat that as their staple hay food too?

thanks in advance as I know this is probably a really daft question!:doh:
 
I find with any hay,whether small bagged or large bale it can be hit and miss - I have had a bag of really bad smelling hay recently,so being wrapped in plastic is no guarantee - I have also bought large bales from farm shops (£7) and £4 from a farm - most of the time these are great - but you can get the odd ropey one wherever you buy from (found a dried mouse in one and a balloon with string on in another).
 
Yuck! @TAN, hoping not to come across any of those in mine!:lol:

I am starting to think I can justify the big bale of boring farm stuff for bedding if I also get a small bag of timothy hay for food, and then its their choice which they eat the most of - though I know they will choose the more expensive one!

Is that what you or anyone else does?
 
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We recently found a farm shop just down the A1 from us, they sell big bags of food which is convenient for us as we have many mouths to feed. They do bags of hay but also bales for £4. Have to go for the bags as have no room for a bale and nowhere to store either! Luckily we have a local pet shop who do jumbo bags of hay for £2.25

Plus my piggies use the hay for sleeping on eating too, they aren't fussy thankfully.
 
I buy a big bale of hay for £8 but found the last one quite dusty so have brought large bag of meadow hay this time for £3 which smells lovely trouble is they eat more of it so I'm constantly topping up - don't think its goner last long!
 
I always used large bales in the past because I had horses too, but people on here said it was too spikey and would hurt their eyes? Since getting the new boars I've been buying pet shop bay in bags but thinking of going back to big bale as its typically about £4 bought from farms and I never had a problem with it before
 
I've often wondered about this too! Sounds like it's fine from what everyone is saying.

The hay expert website talks quite a bit about hays might seem all the same to us but your pet will know what is a really good hay and what is just average and you will be able to tell because it gets eaten more.

You could always try buying a sample set from hayforpets and comparing that yourself to your bale too? I've now tried all 3 of the types of hay they sell - £16 for 9.5kg bag.

3 of my group of 4 clearly prefer the Ings with the other 1 preferring the Timothy and rye to the extent she won't let the others in the hay loft!

My pair of sows like the Ings or the Timothy and rye and my pair of boars seem to like the Ings and the meadow hay.

I haven't found anywhere suitable to buy a bale of hay from but I'm also not sure how I'd store it without mice getting into it.
 
I suppose my two have been spoiled a little too long but it great to hear that this type of hay is fine too - so is the difference just that the package hay is grown specifically with the tastier and softer grass and that farm hay is just whatever grass is growing?

My boys are being alot more selective with the bale of hay, they do eat it but whereas they would munch non stop on the prepacked better looking stuff they return far quicker to eating the nuggets.

The bale hay is also a bit courser in texture so I think I will go down the route of using it for bedding, and for their cardboard box adventure playground thing I construct with old boxes with hay to mess about in - going to get some good stuff too but will make a hay bag so I can stop them jumping and pooping on it :lol:
 
Bale hay for horses tends to be quite a lot courser as it is cut longer in the stem and contains different varieties. Most farm bale hay will contain a lot of hardy grasses and ryegrass, so it typically contains less sugar, more fibre and they have to work harder to chew it which is why they will selectively go for the softer leafier stands
 
I buy excel hay for fibrevores, which is Timothy hay, I have a trade account with kennel gate, but Kennel gate also give a guarantee which, so, if they don't eat it, I just return it! I also feed readigrass as a treat once or twice a week.

When I used to share a horse, I used bring hay from the bales, but, one piggy got a bad attack of mites, so I started buying branded hay.

I was going to try Dust free hay, as they are close to where I live, as they said I could collect.but, they never replied when I asked if I could collect on one particular day, so I didn't bother perusing them,they either want my custom or not.
 
Treacle said:
I buy excel hay for fibrevores, which is Timothy hay, I have a trade account with kennel gate, but Kennel gate also give a guarantee which, so, if they don't eat it, I just return it! I also feed readigrass as a treat once or twice a week.

When I used to share a horse, I used bring hay from the bales, but, one piggy got a bad attack of mites, so I started buying branded hay.

I was going to try Dust free hay, as they are close to where I live, as they said I could collect.but, they never replied when I asked if I could collect on one particular day, so I didn't bother perusing them,they either want my custom or not.
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I'm just having a similar strange situation with Readigrass who are very close to where I live. They did reply a few days after my first email but haven't replied to the second one at all.
 
PiggySmitten said:
I'm just having a similar strange situation with Readigrass who are very close to where I live. They did reply a few days after my first email but haven't replied to the second one at all.
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Yes, what is the problem with these people? I am not going to drive 15 miles to find them closed. It would be nice to be able to collect though if it is good stuff.
 
smileyface:) said:
ah! thanks for that - I never knew there were so many types of grass before I got these piggies - this is why I love this forum, no-one else would want to have conversations about grass! :lol:
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Haha, I had whole modules at university about grass so it's nice to realise that I do actually remember some of it!
 
I did cave in a bit and bought some lovely Burgess dandelion stuff and some more supreme hay for under £3 a pack as I found Amazon do still do that - but what did Spud do this morning - sniffed the new stuff then went back to munching on the farm hay stuff on the floor of the hutch (yes - the trampled down pooped on stuff (though fresh down two days ago, but still) - must teach him how to read and appreciate the invoice for the stuff I paid lots for - little monkey :lol!:
 
smileyface:) said:
I did cave in a bit and bought some lovely Burgess dandelion stuff and some more supreme hay for under £3 a pack as I found Amazon do still do that - but what did Spud do this morning - sniffed the new stuff then went back to munching on the farm hay stuff on the floor of the hutch (yes - the trampled down pooped on stuff (though fresh down two days ago, but still) - must teach him how to read and appreciate the invoice for the stuff I paid lots for - little monkey :lol!:
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:agr: I also bought the Burgess Excel Dandelion & Marigold Herbage, it was £6 from pah. My piggy just runs away from it, like its going to murder him! Think he would actually appreciate the invoice/receipt more!
 
saman said:
:agr: I also bought the Burgess Excel Dandelion & Marigold Herbage, it was £6 from pah. My piggy just runs away from it, like its going to murder him! Think he would actually appreciate the invoice/receipt more!
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ha ha! Don't they realise why I bought it? I also got into a short conversation about hay while I was feeding them it with a friend visiting - I could tell she thought my huge delivery of hay in various forms was a bit OTT, but she said nothing - even when Spud turned his nose up at it - am going to keep my hay discussions for the forums eyes only from now on!
:lol!:
 
I buy bales of hay for bedding and food, currently at £5.70 from local horse feed place (this lasts my large group of piggies and rabbits 2 weeks). It can be hit and miss though. Luckily the shop sells soft hay and regular hay bales so I always ask for the soft hay - it can be very variable though depending where its come from. If I get a bale I'm not happy with (dusty etc) I take it back and they are happy to exchange it. I pick them up in an old (clean) building rubble bag like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIBC-NEW-...NNE-TON-JUMBO-BAGS-STORAGE-SACK-/111466581782 so it doesn't cover my car in hay. This is stored in the garage and I take sections out and put them in a large ikea bag and fill up the hay trays from there. I couldn't give all my animals the hay they need by just buying hay in bags or from the internet as it would be too expensive.
 
Kit06 said:
I buy bales of hay for bedding and food, currently at £5.70 from local horse feed place (this lasts my large group of piggies and rabbits 2 weeks). It can be hit and miss though. Luckily the shop sells soft hay and regular hay bales so I always ask for the soft hay - it can be very variable though depending where its come from. If I get a bale I'm not happy with (dusty etc) I take it back and they are happy to exchange it. I pick them up in an old (clean) building rubble bag like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIBC-NEW-...NNE-TON-JUMBO-BAGS-STORAGE-SACK-/111466581782 so it doesn't cover my car in hay. This is stored in the garage and I take sections out and put them in a large ikea bag and fill up the hay trays from there. I couldn't give all my animals the hay they need by just buying hay in bags or from the internet as it would be too expensive.
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I hope you don't mind me asking, but where do you get your hay? Just because I'm in the north west too. I can get farm hay locally but I like the sound of the softer bale :)

I usually put mine in an old single duvet cover as it contains the mess and allows the hay the breathe so it stays fresh
 
Has anyone ever experienced hay mites from baled hay? I've always stayed away from it as I was worried it might contain them as it's not heat treated etc
 
I've always been fine, plus un-heat treated hay is better for the piggies
 
afu said:
I've always been fine, plus un-heat treated hay is better for the piggies
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Interesting. I never knew that. I've tried hay from bales from a couple of different places and both times they ended up with mites which is what's put me off. With long haired pigs its a nightmare getting rid of them. I suppose it depends on storage and stuff
 
Winifred said:
Interesting. I never knew that. I've tried hay from bales from a couple of different places and both times they ended up with mites which is what's put me off. With long haired pigs its a nightmare getting rid of them. I suppose it depends on storage and stuff
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I would think guinea hay would need to be at least dust extracted. I have had mite problems from farm hay. I suppose now I keep mine inside I have fallen into the trap of buying conveniently plastic bags of branded hay.
 
Treacle said:
I would think guinea hay would need to be at least dust extracted. I have had mite problems from farm hay. I suppose now I keep mine inside I have fallen into the trap of buying conveniently plastic bags of branded hay.
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Good quality hay should be dust free anyway, a lot of the time farm hay is actually less dusty than packaged anyway because it is rarely chopped up again once it's off the field.
 
I get a massive bag of timothy hay from my local West Cumberland Farmers branch, it costs £11.25 and normally lasts me 2 months, that's being used for bedding and food for 3 big hutches and 7 fat tums! ;)
 
afu said:
Good quality hay should be dust free anyway, a lot of the time farm hay is actually less dusty than packaged anyway because it is rarely chopped up again once it's off the field.
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I think this depends very much depends how much it is moved and it is stored too. Fine if you can find it from a farm with good quality timothy hay that is stored correctly. If you live in an area where there are farms that can provide it, then fine. Around here, in my experience, good quality hay is rare.
 
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