Hay wasting

Rosie&Willow

Rosie&Willow

New Born Pup
Joined
Jun 22, 2022
Messages
44
Reaction score
105
Points
165
Location
Middlesbrough
Hi guys so my piggies seem to love the expensive long Timothy hay from pets at home … I love them enjoying it but they waste so much … literally every day I’m binning the stuff I wish they would eat it all! The cheaper stuff seems to make them sneeze! They’re costing me a fortune which I don’t mind if they ate it 🤦‍♀️ Should I just put small amounts out?
 
Rosie&Willow said:
Hi guys so my piggies seem to love the expensive long Timothy hay from pets at home … I love them enjoying it but they waste so much … literally every day I’m binning the stuff I wish they would eat it all! The cheaper stuff seems to make them sneeze! They’re costing me a fortune which I don’t mind if they ate it 🤦‍♀️ Should I just put small amounts out?
Click to expand...
I started a thread like this a while back! 🙄😂. After chatting about it on my thread I think we came to the conclusion that it’s one of their pure joys in life and it’s soooo good for them - I just continued to chuck it at them! Fresh hay on tap. I leave the old stuff that’s not lifted for spot cleaning and they like to sit in it and it hides the poop! If you find a way of letting them have all the hay they can eat, in any area they choose to sit … I’m really interested - I feel your pain - all that good hay being chucked out. They do love plenty of hay tho 🥰
 
maybe you could use cheaper meadow hay in big piles of hay.Then add timothy hay on top.Maybe put the timothy hay in a bowl and use it as a treat,cheaper hay for enrichment,Piggie just love hay.
 
As above! Hay is never wasted!
No matter what hay you buy, they are going to forage through it and pick out the best bits, but using a cheaper hay to fill hides/hay trays etc can help.

I get through around 20kg every month between two rabbits and two piggies. I use meadow hay to fill their hutches (although the rabbits aren’t ever confined to their hutch) and then add two piles of timothy hay for eating at either end of both hutches (and for the rabbits a several other piles of hay elsewhere in their enclosure (and given their enclosure is over 100sq ft, they alone have a lot of hay usage!)). Lots gets thrown away but is never seen as wasted because they play in it, snuggle in it, use it to keep warm, the rabbits dig in it etc. Its all been used even if not eaten.
I try to give my hay a second use in winter also because I use it to mulch and protect my garden plants
 
My little piggies are exactly the same! I throw masses in everyday and throw loads away too. I buy 15kg a month from haybox online for my piggies, it honestly is of the highest quality I have ever come across, it smells gorgeous and is so green but still they just pick the best bits out lol! Fussy little fur balls!
 
Which hay are you buying from PAH? Have you looked at some of the online hay retails they offer much larger boxes and generally work out cheaper than the branded hay in pets at home and it’s very good quality!
At the cheaper end their is
natures own
And then there are the following that are a little more premium
Hay Box
happy hay co
Healthy Herby
Timothyhay.co.U.K.

There will always be a lot of waste my two boys go through an 8kg box of orchard hay from Timothyhay.co.uk about every 8 weeks which works out at £12 a month.
 
Me here too, I buy big bales from a farm, they love it and it doesn’t upset their digestive system, I’ve 9 to cater for and do throw a lot away , I know they’ve had fun though, digging, hiding, tunnels, eating, pooping, weeing, dragging it around everywhere and foraging, making wigs out of it, I pay £ 5 a bale and it’s good stuff and it lasts.
 
We buy bales of meadow hay from an equine supplier it's only £6.50 and lasts us at least a month (we have 7 piggies in 3 cages). I put piles of this in trays and then top with the expensive Timothy hay.😀
 
If you're buying from somewhere like Haybox it might be worth grabbing sample packs (Haybox has those, right? I know Happy Hay does). Samples can let you give them other hay options to try without having to buy a box, and knowing what hay they will and won't eat is always useful.
 
I buy a bale of organic local hay £6 direct from the farm (it has an equine supplies/farming shop)I keep it in a green garden storage box inside the shed. I use it as bedding and feed which they love. I also buy a 3.75 kg of Pillow Wad Timothy Hay too as a supplement to the organic hay
 
Yer haybox do a free taster pack, think you may still have to pay delivery tho. They give you a few small samples consisting of the timothy blend, timothy soft and meadow hay I think. I buy X2 5KG boxes of coarse cut cos my piggies love the seed heads and they are packed with them and I buy X1 box of soft cut to mix in. This comes to around £40 and I order around every 5 - 6 weeks so is quite expensive to be honest but they love it so much! This is usually to cater for 5 piggies but unfortunately, now just 4.
 
Hay “wastage” is a part and parcel of piggy ownership. They never eat it all. Once they’ve peed and pooped on it they aren’t going to eat those bits. And they sift through a pile to pick what they consider the tastiest strands to eat and their favourite strands to burrow into and make nests in. No hay is ever truly wasted - some of it is eaten, the rest is slept on, used by them as enrichment and dragged and strewn all over the cage for your enrichment in cleaning up after them.
 
Rosie&Willow said:
thank you everybody I'm going to order from Haybox it seems much better value. I'm currently getting 1kg of the long stem timothy hay for 6.49 when I could get 5kg for £15 - makes sense. :)
Click to expand...
I use haybox - very pleased with them. My girls also love their coriander stalks
 
VickiA said:
and dragged and strewn all over the cage for your enrichment in cleaning up after them.
Click to expand...

I can't stop laughing at how accurate this is :))

The goblins had hay in the cage that they were steadfastly ignoring til cage clean time last night and then they got cranky and wanted their hay back. Do I waste a lot of it just chucking it in the cage? Yes. Do I care? Nah. It's an easy way to get them both out of bed so I can see how they're doing without having to get up close and personal. I've got a subscription with Happy Hay for a 5kg box of orchard hay every four weeks. They sent me oat hay by accident so I ended up with a free box of that as well for an occasional treat. Cheap it isn't, but it's worth it for those two.
 
Got home late last night from a week away, Piggies are still at boarding. Last thing we did before we left… was hoover downstairs. First thing I saw on opening the front door…HAY! Almost as if the boys snuck home. We and our piggies permanently live with hay around us.
 
As a general thing to be aware of, 2022 cut Timothy hay is likely to be much higher in sugar than usual, essentially because of the UK summer drought affecting growing rates. This affected Timothy grass much more than other species of grass. I buy Timothy from a horse company who are very On It with regards to nutrient analysis, and they've pulled their 2022 Timothy chop harvest from sale as a result. With this in mind, especially if you have older pigs or those with pre-existing health issues, I actually would err towards only using Timothy as a topper on other hay - either to eke out 2021 cut, or to reduce the overall sugar in the diet with 2022 cut.

As I have an elderly and fairly wobbly pig, I'm currently stretching out my 2021 cut of Timothy. When that runs out I'll be switching to Timothy hay pellets, as these are usually made from a later cut of hay, and it's expected that these will have a more usual nutrient profile.
 
acapae said:
As a general thing to be aware of, 2022 cut Timothy hay is likely to be much higher in sugar than usual, essentially because of the UK summer drought affecting growing rates. This affected Timothy grass much more than other species of grass. I buy Timothy from a horse company who are very On It with regards to nutrient analysis, and they've pulled their 2022 Timothy chop harvest from sale as a result. With this in mind, especially if you have older pigs or those with pre-existing health issues, I actually would err towards only using Timothy as a topper on other hay - either to eke out 2021 cut, or to reduce the overall sugar in the diet with 2022 cut.

As I have an elderly and fairly wobbly pig, I'm currently stretching out my 2021 cut of Timothy. When that runs out I'll be switching to Timothy hay pellets, as these are usually made from a later cut of hay, and it's expected that these will have a more usual nutrient profile.
Click to expand...
This is very interesting, I am always searching for nutritional values relating to hay and grass but they are difficult to find. I once found information about the ideal length of sword for optimal nutrition in cattle! Also, in relation to horses, I have read about the difference in sugar levels in (growing) grass in the morning compared to the afternoon and the significance of this for horses prone to laminitis. I wonder if the high sugar/laminitis connection for horses is the main reason your supplier has pulled the Timothy hay? Hopefully the increased sugar levels won't be such an issue for piggies. I agree a mix of hay is always best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top