Would this hay be safe?

[chins1222]

I am wanting to get a larger amount of hay and I contacted a lady near me who has some available. I asked her if there was any alfalfa as I know guinea pigs are not supposed to have it due to high calcium levels... Anyway she said it was orchard grass hay and Timothy mixed with a little clover.( I can't use it for the pigs bc of the clover hay :/ not sure exactly what she means by a little though)

is clover hay ok? I don't really remember seeing it mentioned before either good or bad so I wanted to check.
With 4 pigs and 3 chins I go through a lot of hay and this would really help with cost so I could spoil them with more fun stuff

 

[chins1222]

I'm not sure how much a little is exactly. Lol Is it easy to tell between the grass hays and the clover by looking at it?
She said the field is farmed in strips and that some strips used to have clover so there are small amounts in some of the bales

 

[Snickers]

I guess clover hay is alfalfa since I never heard of clover. I sometimes go for a mixture if the timothy is bad out here.

 

[chins1222]

Yeah I guess it's very similar to alfalfa! So it should be ok to feed as their main hay?

 

[Amethyst]

Clover is not alfalfa, but it is a legume like alfalfa is, so is high in calcium and protein just like alfalfa. I know red clover is ok for chins as a treat, to remove it I would be somewhat easy, if you take the time to go though it, clover has 3-4 petal like leaves and flowers. A few pieces here and there shouldn't be a problem though. I've fed my chins hay that had some clover in it and they were fine, just make sure you check for mold and moisture, clover can take longer to dry then grass, and produces a toxin that can cause excessive salivation (drooling) if moldy (you'll see brown spots on the leaves).

 

[LYChinchillas]

I'd check out this thread from a while back: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24424

I assume if it's safely dried, clover shouldn't be a huge problem if there's only a small quantity mixed into the timothy and orchard. As always, alfalfa types of hays should be given in moderation and perhaps you should adjust their additional alfalfa consumption once you can visually examine the hay and see what percentage of clover is actually mixed in.

 

[chins1222]

Ok thank you I'll be sure to check it thoroughly for any signs of mold. I have to order different hay for the pigs so I'll feed that as well as this mix but this is much less expensive so that will help. The lady I'm getting it from feeds it to her horses so I would hope she would dry it and store it properly!? We'll see lol
Thanks for the replies