how do you look after bales of straw & horse hay

I am going to buy a bale of straw tomorrow from a farm shop I found today who do horse supplies etc - I will buy one of their big bales of straw for £2.50 (very cheap isnt it!) and a bag of their hay - she said the horse hay was really coarse and stalky so she gets a separate hay for rabs & guineas and I will buy a bag of that (non branded, she bags it up herself)

Questions, do you think that hay is going to be good enough for my rabbits? I know testing it on them is the real thing to see if they like it but nutritionally it should be fine shouldnt it? Charlotte dont your rabbits eat horse hay?

Also with regards to the bale of straw, what I really want to do is just leave it out in the garden so Alex can climb on it and play on it and put his barn and animals on it while it is not being used to carpet the rabbits enclosure. But I obviously dont want to ruin it for the rabbits with weather etc either. So is this possible? How should I store it? We do have a shed it can go in but I would prefer it were out in the garden so Alex and the birds can use it before the rabbits require it all. Should I cover it with a tarp? Or does it just dry out? Or is it packed in such a way it can withstand the weather?

My buns eat horse hay. There is absolutely no problem with it. As long as it isn't old and dusty there is no difference between that and shop bought hay. ITs just not been chopped and put in a bag for you. I just pop mine in the shed hun. They should keep fine.

You could always keep it under a plastic sheet in garden too!

I guess I can just experiment with the straw and see if I can keep it in bale form out in the garden with a tarp to cover it up. Our bags of straw have always been kept in the shed but a bale is just so much fun for everyone I would rather it were out.

thanks! I want to try the horse hay rather than the stuff she thinks I should try. I am curious how they take it.

where you getting it from? (miss nosy over here! lol)

i get mine from upsons in hatfield peveral and their hay is amaaazing! its so fresh and green and th ebuns go crazy for it lol

x

Oh my word! I am only like a 5 minute drive from Upson's!
I am going to convert mine to their hay as it is so utterly gorgeous and Excel Forage and Timothy is far to expensive for £3 a teeny weeny sack.
I buy my A&P and Megazorb for them!
You must come over for a cuppa and 3 nose rubs!

Its a farmshop/horse/animal supply shop in Greenstead Green - the only shop there that I can see! It is very big. There is a lot of farming there.

The hay I saw wasnt very green it was more golden coloured. I got one bale of straw and a bag of their "rabbit" hay just because I couldnt fit 2 bales in my car, but next time I will get a bale of hay too.