Poor quality hay this summer/fall?

[ying5883]

I was doing my research on purchasing more hay but I find complaints on the quality of hay within recent months. For example, American Pet Diner, which used to be my chins favorite, has recently changed their package. In the new package, the hay seems to be shredded, with lots of dust and brown pieces. I also checked for Oxbow timothy hay and the reviews are also bad.

What's going on with hay harvested this year? Has anybody bought hay recently? How is the quality? I really concerned about my picky eaters...

 

[seachin]

Kleenamama's 2014 second cut timothy is the nicest I have ever seen. Grown in eastern Washington, this long dry summer has made some awesome hay.

 

[Snickers]

The timothy hay in So CA is pretty bad. If I don't like the hay at the feed stores close to me I end up driving about 45 mins to horse country (Norco). Or, I will get a combination of hay timothy/orchard mix, or timothy/alfalfa mix. I think it's the drought even if I was told the hay comes from Nevada.

 

[aznmexaggie]

The hay here is awful this year. My feed store had to truck timothy in from Oregon and even then, the price is about $15 higher a bale than it used to be!

 

[Pikaia]

I bought from American Pet Diner and received the same type of hay. The company has said that their machines were calibrated wrong and that is why the hay came out so short.

 

[nikkik0720]

I have been getting my chins American Pet Diner from Petco (the one with the yellow label) and am pleased with it for the most part. The last 2 bags have been really short and dusty though, and I ended up throwing most of it out. I'm kinda glad to know it's not just me having bad hay troubles though.

 

[ying5883]

I personally like KMS hay based on the sample I got recently, but somehow my chin is not very impressed. He is ok with the blue grass, but hardly touches the 2nd cut, even though both look really nice to me. I think he is really spoiled by the last APD hay I got for him.

It's also strange to me that KMS 2nd cut is more like APD 1st cut based on the amount of stems there. Since my chin likes APD 2nd cut better, I am hoping him to like KMS 3rd cut. Has anybody have experience with their 3rd cut?

It's really surprising that APD had the machine wrong. They should call the bad hay back then!

 

[ticklechin]

Try Tanya's foraging hay, its been a big hit here!

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45199