Another Quick Hay Question

Sorry about having another hay question. I found someone local that has orchard grass hay with a mixture of clovers. He's just cut it down and its in square bales. He's selling it for $3.00 a bale 75-80 lbs. Would this be safe for my chinnies? Is clover ok? If not I won't buy it but I just didn't wanna pass up finally finding hay in bulk! LOL

Thanks so much everyone!!

I can't imagine that the clover would hurt the chins, but they may not like the orchard grass. Sometimes chins won't eat it because it's a little tougher to chew and it appears to not be as tasty as timothy or alfalfa or even burmuda.

You could look at the hay and see what it's like. Does it look good? Does it have a lot of brown dead-looking stuff in it? Is it fresh or moldy? How was the hay cured? Just make sure that it looks like something safe. Ask if the field it was grown in was sprayed, as well.

I don't know if clover dries very well...I don't have much experience with it. I do know that grazing animals love it and it doesn't appear to be toxic at all to them...I can't imagine it would be toxic for a chinchilla.

Of course, it is just $3 for a little bale...so you could always try it. If it doesn't work out, you could find someone with a goat or a horse and give it away.

Shoot, have him send me some for my horse!

Like Susan said, at $3 a bale you can't go wrong, get one and try it.

That's what I told my husband for $3.00 it doens't hurt to try it, but I just wanted to double check with you all first and all! I'll be getting some tomorrow to try it, if they don't like it my neighbors have horses I can give it to them.

The horses would love the clover. Definitely let us know how the chins like it. Occasionally I will see that the hay brokers have some mixed grass hay bales available. They sometimes will have clover in them, so maybe I should try it with my chins. The chinnies love hay of different types. Although, a bale of burmuda will end up lasting me four or five months because the chins don't like it as much as the timothy hay. (115 lb bale of timothy rarely lasts more than a couple weeks here!)

Almost any barn I've been in has broken bales. Go grab a handful and try it. If he doesn't like it, you won't have to worry about dumping the rest.

What kind of clover is there?
I've heard and read (rodent and rabbit medicine book) that clover is not recommended for chins, as it may cause bloating.
The problem with clover is that it's hard to dry, so it can become moldy. If clover raised under wet conditions it often have fungus that grow on it.
And it's legume hay(protein may be even higher than in alfalfa)
If you decide to use it, I would introduce it slowly ( it has higher moisture level than orchard grass or timothy)

Clover is very similar to alfalfa (they are both legume hays as Tanya noted) and is very rich in protein and calcium. If dried correctly (not moldy), I would only give a small amount as a treat. Personally, I'd stick with grass hays; but if wanting to feed a legume hay as a treat or for supplementing young, pregnant, or lactating chins, I would go with alfalfa as it is much more commonly grown as a hay crop and easier to dry.

Well I didn't get the hay i looked at it and didn't like the way it looked. I went ahead and went to Petsmart and got a 40oz bag of Oxbow Hay and they chowed down on it they loved it I put some in last night and it was half almost all gone this morning I hope thats ok! lol So i'm going to be possibly sticking to the oxbow hay. Thanks for all the information though and helping me out!!

I've started buying my hay from Petsmart now that they carry Oxbow. I mix bags of timothy and orchard together in the hay box (where I store my hay) and then I buy a separate bag of botanical and use it here and there as a "treat" hay.

acbieri said:

Well I didn't get the hay i looked at it and didn't like the way it looked.

Click to expand...

:thumbsup: