Oxbow hay question

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mishellyshel

mishellyshel

Chin Slave
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
4,633
Location
New Jersey
i usually but the 9lb box of oxbow timothy hay for 25 dollars at my feed store. last month i ran out and was next to petsmart and ran in and got the larger bag, i think 40 ounces, it was 10 bucks. it lasted less than 2 weeks BUT the hay was so much nicer. so soft. my chins loved it.
when i went back to the feed store, i got the usual and the hay while super fresh and green is SO coarse and stemmy. my chins still like it but waste a lot more.
does anyone know why the smaller bags appear to be a different cut.

i wouldnt mind combining the two so they get a little of each but that doest sound very cost effective. thoughts or ideas??
 
Perhaps it's easier for them to bag the softer hay? Just a thought that perhaps the stemmy stuff would not be as easy to put in a bag, it'd be easier for them to keep it's shape if it were in a box.
 
I think it might have more to do with where it's stored and how old it is. I get 50 pound boxes of Oxbow and it's about the same as what's in the bags. Actually, sometimes the bags are more stiff than my 50 pound boxes.
 
I used to buy the 9lb boxes of Oxbow and I ran into the same problem. I thought it might have been the time of year, but every time I got one it would be coarse and stemmy. I eventually started searching around Jacksonville (about an hour radius) to see if any feed stores had fresh timothy bales. I ended up finding a horse farm that got in timothy/orchard with a smidgen of clover and alfalfa. The chins LOVE it and I can get about 5 times as much hay for $15.

If your chins are eating the stemmy hay and it's cheaper for you I would stick with it. For me they were wasting most of it which is what brought on the change.
 
compared to how much less waste there was with the softer 40 oz bag than the 9lb bag, i would say it is worth looking into another source.

with 9 chins and one very piggie guinea the 9lbs last about 6 weeks. i have been debating on buying the 50lb bag direct from Oxbow but aside from the storage aspect, could it go bad?

if anyone gets the 50lb from oxbow and has time to send me a picture, i would appreciate it so much. even if just an image from a cell phone. i can pm my cell #.

maybe that is the way to go??
 
I have gotten all of the timmy sizes except the 50 pounder at one time or another. The 9 pound bags I got in the summer were thicker stalks and the 9 pound bag I just got a few weeks ago was all soft & skinny (so far, havent gotten to the bottom of the bag yet). The 25 pound box I got direct from Oxbow had a mix it seemed.
I think you will be fine getting a 50 pound box. If you use 9lbs in 6 weeks, 50 would last 33 weeks.
 
So......I did a little research today. I was quite fortunate as I was able to speak at great lengths with the person at Oxbow who does animal health development.
I got a nice "hay" lesson and an even greater respect for the company & product.

the 50lb bag of hay thru them is only about $35 but the shipping to NJ via fedex is actually more, it is $38. so with other fees it would cost me $75 for 50lbs. quite a bargsain considering i spend $25 on 9lbs every 6 - 8 weeks. She recommended the websites that are on oxbows site and indicated that right now Dr's foster & smith have a free shipping on orders over 49. so i checked out their website and they are selling the 50lb bags of the timmy hay for 64 and it ships direct from oxbow. So that would save me another 10 bucks. just wanted to share in case anyone else could use the info.
she also said the fibre content & palability levels of the hay IF stored properly could last up to 18 months. I was quite surprised and happy to hear that. Espcially as 50lbs would last me about 8 months.
 
I would feel tempted to do that too but I feel like my chins eat so much more hay when I open a fresh bag. Maybe I'm not storing it correctly? I'd hate to have their interest wane halfway through a 50 pound box!

Michelle, did they say anything about there being different cuts in different size packages?
 
The quality of the hay in any of the packaging has more to do with when it was harvested and growing conditions than it does with anything else. I'm usually very happy with the 50 lb boxes of Oxbow, but have been disappointed with the last two. They have a lot of brown, shriveled hay mixed in and the chins have not liked it as much so I'm having more waste than before.
 
I recently got the 25lb box through Dr. Foster and Smith. It is really soft...almost too soft. Usually the pet store has stemmy oxbow but the closest one recently relocated and ordered new hay! It was so much softer. But this box was softer than that. The only problem with that is a lot of small pieces. But my chins waste a lot and it is 11 dollars for 2.5lbs at petsmart....twice the cost of the big box. I store it in mesh hampers in the chinny area.
 
The last 50lb bag I got from Oxbow had a bunch of dark brown hay in it that I did not give to my chins. Since then I have been buying smaller bags at Tractor Supply, but I check the bags before I purchase them because you can see if the hay is soft or stemmy and brown. It's a much better deal to get the 50lb bag unless it's full of bad hay.
 
Check local animal shows, especially cavy (guinea pig) shows. A lot of the cavy shows have vendors.

There was a show here in PA that I could get the 50lb boxed hay for $35, no shipping. I am sure it would be more expensive now, but it may be something to look at. This was about 5 years ago.
 
Today I picked up my 25 pound bag of Oxbow that I ordered to my feed store. It was $43. It really hurt to pay that much for hay when I was getting slices of local timmy for $4. But they were wasting so much of the local stuff-- too many weeds and brown grass mixed in.

I'm really happy with the quality of the Oxbow, and I paid about half the price for the large bag than if I had bought the same quantity in 2.5 pound bag increments. This is my first time doing this so I'll have to see if the quality continues. This bag seems to be a nice mixture of coarse stems and soft leaves which is what my girls like!
 
The cavy show in PA was in macungie. Like I said last time I went was about 5 years ago, and they did have an oxbow vendor there. I'd stock up on hay for the year from him.


http://macba-online.org/ Looks like its normally held in May, but they don't have this years info up yet. I did google it and someone was saying May 24th, 2011.. So keep an eye out. If you are close enough it won't hurt to stop down and see if they have vendors.
 
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