Black Leaves in Hay

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louise_stocker

louise_stocker

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I really don't mean to be a fuss-pot but I've been trying some new hay from a farm only 5 mins walk from our house. There are quite a lot of black leaves in the hay (long, thin - I thought they were feathers at first - they are that kind of shape). I just wondered if any farmers out there knew what they might be?

I put the hay in with a little trepidation and the pigs started wolfing down the black leaves which kind of freaked me out!

I'm probably just being my usual paranoid self! Thanks xx
 
I've found odd things in hay too - maybe sift through it before. Thistles were plentiful in one suppliers batch, I was afraid to put my hands in so I never ordered from them again :(
We have a store a few miles from us that had a new hay in last year, a huge amount compressed for £11 so we tried it, the piggies love it. Lasts around 3 weeks for 15 piggies :) It's long and coarse, smells great but I'm always looking out for good stuff for them. They hate the Oxbow Timothy I bought for Christmas :x
Going to order the sample bags from these and see how it goes with them:

http://www.hayforpets.co.uk/about_us.html
 
I am very paranoid about hay :) Generally speaking if it's dried out, it should be okay, but Ragwort is poisonous to piggies, which does have long stems, so I would personally pick out anything that doesn't look like hay :(

If in doubt, leave it out, is my motto rolleyes
 
Thank you. I've just googled pictures of ragwort and it really doesn't look like that. They're more like very wide pieces of grass or thin leaves but black and very dried out. The lady described it as meadow hay. It's very green and they love it. I'm really paranoid about these things too.
 
Thank you so much for the help. It could be either of those actually. I've taken a photo. I'm really sorry if I'm fussing over nothing! There are a lot of them in the hay - its not just the odd one otherwise I'd just pick them out. By the way, they're very slightly hairy and don't disintegrate.

200112036.jpg
 
If there is a lot of it I would **** take it back, it could have just been a wet or weedy patch of the field.
if the farmer thought you didnt know anything about hay or knew it was 'just for guinea pigs' he may have given you that bale intentionally hoping you would not complain or it may just be bad luck.
 
lynda1 said:
If there is a lot of it I would **** take it back, it could have just been a wet or weedy patch of the field.
if the farmer thought you didnt know anything about hay or knew it was 'just for guinea pigs' he may have given you that bale intentionally hoping you would not complain or it may just be bad luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your message. I told the lady is was for guinea pigs and she asked what kind of hay they liked. I said something fresh-ish and green. She picked what she thought was the nicest bale. She's only started selling hay in the last few weeks and I wanted to try and support her because she's just down the road. Can't decide what to do now. She only gave me a small amount to test first.
 
It does look a lot like plantain! Just been googling it. If it is plantain, I think I might take it all out, repackage it and sell it at a profit! Only joking ;)
 
Looks like narrow leaved plantain to me too - it does tend to go black at times, as it depends on the drying conditions.

I always think that piggies will only eat edible leaves (providing they are well fed in all other areas) so I think they are safe ;)

Mine would fight for that between them grrrr

Jo x
 
Thanks again for the reassurance. The 'hay experts' are selling plantain ready packaged in bags - I think my pigs have fallen on their little feet!

They certainly went straight for it! I'm never sure whether I can trust them to know what's good for them but its looking good :)
 
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