Any luck with Standlee hay?

[Laluvschins]

Was wondering who has tried it and if your chins liked it? KMS is out of their third cut and was thinking about trying it....thanx

 

[tunes]

Yep, it's the only hay I buy. I can only get the Alfalfa out here, but that works for me because my pellets are timothy based. It's very nice, always fresh smelling and looking, and the chins love it.

 

[6Dusters]

Funny you should ask. I have been able to buy their Timothy here in Virginia.

I have used two bales from this company in the past and on the third. Opened it 8-20-13 and all seemed well. I learned from my best friend to always check your bale as your working with it. Which I did.
This past Friday I noticed some straw looking pieces that had black mold on them. I walked around the chin room and noticed 6 of the 12 cages have small droppings. I stopped feeding them this hay and went out and bought a few small bags of Oxbow orchard grass at the local pet store. The results were immediate. Dropping size increased. ( cleaned some cages to see impact on droppings)

This bale is going to the garden for compost. This stinks. In the past the hay has been great and I had no complaints until now.

 

[tunes]

You had the bale open for two months and it just now got mold on it? That's not the hays fault.

 

[6Dusters]

The hay has been stored in a cool dry place and portion flakes taken out when needed. Mold can show itself in a bale at any time. I know this for a fact

 

[Laluvschins]

Thanx guys....i may stick with ADP...i would always mix that with KMS. Think my Chins kind of got tired of oxbow. Just sucks third timothy is out with KMS and probably won't til next year. They have second cut but it a lil too course to me. Ive heard good and bad now about Standlee..not sure about it now:hmm:...

 

[Sue]

We use Standlee alfalfa all the time. The chins devour it as soon as I fill their cages with some. Good stuff. We use the hay cubes, keep it in bins though, so it's not exposed to mold and the like. It doesn't last long either. A 40 pound bag is done in about three weeks, if that, more like one and a half. The lag would be me getting around to it.

 

[tunes]

I have had horses for over 20 years and have used hay that entire time, obviously. I have never had a properly stored bale of hay miraculously turn moldy, especially if it was used in a timely manner. It has happened, but after it got wet or had some other exposure. If I got a dusty bale of hay, it was dusty when I opened it. The same with mold. It didn't show up several months down the road if it was stored properly.

I point this out because I have never heard of anyone having an issue with Standlee hay and I would hate posters on this forum to think it isn't a good hay because one person said it "turned" moldy.

 

[Laluvschins]

Thank you again. If im not mistaken it just needs to be stored in a cool dry place and the hay has access to air and ventilate...i keep mine in the closet..is this right?

 

[6Dusters]

My hay is stored in a large clean moving box with the lid slightly closed. Housed indoors. Decided to pull off another flake to see what is going on a bit deeper. The photo's are my findings. Why does it have black mold? Who knows. Am I slamming the company. No.
Poster wanted my opinion and it was given. Up to a consumer if they want to try it.

Like I said, I have used it in the past with no problems. Crap happens.

 

[jbcstratton]

I like their hay, just wish we could get the timothy here.

 

[Laluvschins]

I noticed a lot of that looks brown...that not the actual mold is it because I thought the brown is normal. However on the last pic I see some black on one or the stems

 

[Riven]

I used it for all of my chins with no issues. Hay is a product of nature. It is not a man made creation, it will have flaws. They use huge equipment to process it. Fields get weeds, bugs, frogs and more. I've heard of people tossing whole expensive bags because they found a cricket leg...

Here a standlee bale runs about $13.99 for a 45# bale... not a huge loss if it has bad chunks you have to toss. I don't see any black mold on that, it's a type of weeds that's common in hay fields here, when it dries out it looks like that. Hay gets sun bleached, if it rains it turns brown, doesn't mean it's bad, just different colored, no different to an apple that gets cut and set our for a while, turns brown. Once I found a wad of baling twine in the middle of a bale, I just picked it out and tossed it. It's not like they can personally look through every bale, they can't stop and get out if they see a weed on the ground, etc. they'd be there all day!

I'm amazed at how great most commercial hay looks that isn't dyed. We put up hay every year and have my whole life. It's a delicate dance with nature and equipment. Bailing alfalfa first thing in the morning so you have enough moisture so they leaves don't drop out, but not too wet that it molds. You get rain while it's down, it's brown, lost it's color. Wind will blow your rows and you'll have to go re-rake.