Hay preferences?

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

So, I need to get some hay and there's a ranch about a 20 min drive from my house that I'd like to purchase from. For my area, the prices are good, but there's so many options. I'm sticking with grass hay as I feed alfalfa cubes in addition to my grain mix.

This is what they offer:

Meadow grass on sale for $16.00
Timothy grass $16.50
Orchard grass $16.00
Low carb orchard grass $16.00

Not sure which to go with. I'm leaning towards Orchard grass because, I believe, it's softer for use in the nest boxes.

You guys have any preferences?

 

[Mickey328]

We use Timothy...they all love it and we put it in the nest boxes as well.

 

[dayna]

Holy Smoly! I pay $40 for a bale of orchard grass and $32 for a bale of alfalfa right now. Timothy is WAY out of my price range at $48/bale.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

Holy Smoly! I pay $40 for a bale of orchard grass and $32 for a bale of alfalfa right now. Timothy is WAY out of my price range at $48/bale.

Wow... and I complain when the market hits $20!

 

[grumpy]

Alfalfa----$6.00 picked up in the field.
All others are $5.00 out of the field.

I've got one fella that delivers good brome hay
for $5.00 a bale. He even offered to pitch it
up to me in the storage area above my grow-out room.
He's got a 10 bale minimum order.

grumpy.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I paid this year...3.50 a bale..

 

[Dood]

:lol:

this year...3.50 a bale.

Yeah, last year I got stuck an paid $8 :shock: thankfully the pasture came in early and I only had to do that for a couple weeks.

I need more information to help make a descision

- what breed of rabbit ?
long coated breeds need more fiber so I would go with the woodyier timothy or possibly low carb orchard. ( since its from a horse farm - low carb should mean its a later cut so has less simple sugars and more complex ones and lignin/woodyness)

- do you feed pellets or doing natural ?
The orchard has better nutrition so if doing natural i would recommend it over than meadow. if you feed pellets as well then the meadow will offer more variety as it "should" have more herbs/weeds but that really depends on the field it came from.

 

[Truckinguy]

I put straw in my colony and buy it for $3 for a small square bale. I could buy a round bale for $30, I think, but it's a lot more convenient for me to store the small square bales. Hay is $6 for the small square bales. The doe uses the straw in the nestbox with no problems.

 

[Frecs]

ummm...Bermuda grass is pretty much it around here...sometimes there is some alfalfa trucked in and sometimes there is peanut hay...but mostly it's Bermuda. Last year I paid $3 a bale. This year, it's going for $8. I would be poop out of luck if it was $30 a bale!!!

(When you say $30 a bale...you are talking square bales or the big round bales?)

 

[Dood]

(When you say $30 a bale...you are talking square bales or the big round bales?)

good point around here a "Bale" is a 50lb rectangular bale while a 700+ lb bale of hay is called a "Roll" . Some people have "large Squares" that are usually over 1000kb and 8 feet long, just right to fit in the back of a pick-up truck.

Last year our "Rolls" were $100 ! Normally they're $30-$50 but we had a bad drought and most farmers only got a first cut.

 

[skysthelimit]

The timothy around here is basically like straw, brown and full of thorny weeds, alfalfa is no where to be seen except TSC at $17 a compact bale. I used to be able to get orchard grass at $4, no more of that. I liked it, it was green, smelled fresh and soft for the nest. Since it's hard to get hay anyway, and expensive, I resorted to putting shredded paper in the box, and leaving the hay only as food.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

I need more information to help make a descision

- what breed of rabbit ?
long coated breeds need more fiber so I would go with the woodyier timothy or possibly low carb orchard. ( since its from a horse farm - low carb should mean its a later cut so has less simple sugars and more complex ones and lignin/woodyness)

- do you feed pellets or doing natural ?
The orchard has better nutrition so if doing natural i would recommend it over than meadow. if you feed pellets as well then the meadow will offer more variety as it "should" have more herbs/weeds but that really depends on the field it came from.

They're just meat mutts with standard coats. As for feed, my adults are fed a measured amount of the oat mix with shredded beet pulp (BOSS & Manna Pro as needed), free access to alfalfa cubes (17% protein), and then free fed grass hay. Growing kits are free fed the oat mix and alfalfa pellets (16% protein) with a a small amount of manna pro mixed in, free access to the cubes and hay.

 

[squidpop]

I would probably pick up two different kinds- everyone likes variety.

 

[Dood]

I would go with orchard.

Around here you need to be carefull of 'meadow' as it is a catch all term for for a mixed hay. Goats and sheep usually get it as they are pickier eaters and can avoid any toxic plants but also are more tolerant of them if they do get ingested.

The defintion of 'Meadow hay' might be different in your area.