Got some hay today!

[JessicaR]

I just got a bale of alfalfa today for free (kind of) I babysat for my nephew while my sister and her fiancee moved into a house on his parents farm. Actually she gave me a couple of bales but I only took 1 home with me. Josh (fiancee) asked me what kind I want :?: I have always just bought a bag of timothy hay from TSC, but that was getting kind of expensive... Anyways to get to the point what type should i get, what is the difference? For now I brought home what he said was 2nd cutting, they feed that to their horses. He also had some that was just baled yesterday, but he said i might not want that because it is still a little wet, they were giving that to the steers today. He said he can get me some richer stuff if I want. And to think i thought all hay was basicly the same

Also how should i store the hay? obviously I cant just keep it in the house like I did with the small bags :lol: Should i keep it in the garage or should i put it on the porch with a tarp over it to keep any rain off of it?

 

[fuzzy9]

I just feed a soft grassy timothy hay, but some feed alfalfa hay too, it just depends on the purpose you are feeding hay. I feed it so they always have something to much on, and because it's great fiber, great for digestion. I don't like long over grown stemmy hay though.

Never buy hay that is still slightly wet, the wet will turn to dust and mold as it sits. Make sure it's always soft, and dry, with as little dust as possible. I guess I'd store it in the garage if those are your options, but keep it off the ground. We always pile our hay on pallets so air can get underneath the bottom bales.

 

[akane]

Cardboard works great for storing small amounts of hay because it's breathable but still provides a barrier so long as the area you are setting it on doesn't get extremely damp and soak in to the cardboard.

For the most part you have grass hay(timothy, brome, bermuda, coastal, orchardgrass, blue grass.....) and you have legume hay (clover and alfalfa) some hay also falls under grain hay but this is just grain plants cut so early that it is identical to grass hay in feel and nutrition. If you are feeding alfalfa based pellets then you will most likely want some type of grass hay. Legume hay will be too high in calcium, protein, and other nutrients when fed with high protein rabbit pellets. If you are feeding a grain mix or a timothy based pellet to growing or breeding rabbits then you want legume hay to up the protein and provide more nutrients for the animals that need it. Adult bucks and pet does who aren't breeding can always be fed on grass hay even when using timothy pellets because they are not using up enough energy and nutrients doing anything.

 

[JessicaR]

Thanks for the info. So since they are eating alfalfa pellets could I just supplement the alfalfa hay for the pellets? Like one day pellets, next day only hay?