Timothy Hay

I've been short on time lately, but I would like to make a post soon discussing the types hay, feeding options, and the results of some hay "experiments" I've played around with over the past couple of years with rabbits.

In the meantime, I just wanted to show comparison of two cuts of the same kind of hay from different sources so you can see how much it can vary.

The first set of pictures is the standard Kaytee brand of timothy hay from PetSmart. It was on "sale" for $12 per little bag:

And here it is out of the bag today. Sorry about the lighting, but it has been alternating with rain and fog most of the day so I was doing the best I could:

 As you can see, it is fairly green with thick stems. Looks pretty much like what it is supposed to be- pure timothy:

 

And below we have more timothy hay, but this is a locally-harvested bale from the horse/feed shop. I believe I paid $11 for a bale yesterday:

Still green, but obviously it has thinner stems and it feels softer in my hand:

It is also called timothy, but there is some other stuff in there, too:

 I see sweet clover among others. Still good eatin', but quite different from what can be purchased from the chain pet store. Part of the difference may be which cut was packaged and shipped from the first bag, but part of it may be other factors from mass production. More to come when I can sit down and type for a while. Thanks for reading!