Grass Instead Of Hay

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shannonandrosy

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I am a bit worried. The piggies arent eating their hay. Well not like they should be. They seem to prefer the grass over the hay. Is this okay or should i cut out the grass?
 
Mine adore grass above everything. They do eat hay just not as much as the grass. They have the odd bit of pepper and corriander but its mainly grass. It is their natural diet.

Oh they also have some pellets, not many though.
 
Maybe it's your brand of hay? My pigs love hay but tend to pick out the greener bits then lie on the brown bits. Maybe you've got a duff bag of hay that's all brown bits and nasty. I tend to buy hay based on smell. These days I buy hay off a farm via eBay. Their hay is so fresh it still smells grassy and my pigs LOVE it. I've never come across any other hay that smells so good.
 
mine too eat more grass than hay and their teeth are healthy. You can try to change the brand of the hay; once I bought Bunny Heu which is as soft as the grass and they loved it.
Don't cut out grass, it is a nosense for them... grass is their natural veg and is full of vitamins and minerals.
I think your piggies don't appreciate that hay you have at home now... they are stubborn sometimes!:roll:
 
Ok good i would hate for their terth to grow out of control. Same hay ive bought some ive had them. So I'm leaning towars the preference for grass
 
shannonandrosy said:
Ok good i would hate for their terth to grow out of control. Same hay ive bought some ive had them. So I'm leaning towars the preference for grass
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One thing I would watch out for is that it's fast approaching the end of the growing season. Soon it will get too cold for the grass to grow and it will go into hibernation and therefore not easy to chop for food (and not as nutritious? Don't quote me on that - it's an educated guess). Also what do you do when the grass is all frozen? Would you be able to cut it? So I would still try and get a decent hay they will eat over winter especially when I'm sure I've read somewhere that it's the long strands of hay and grasses that are best for digestion (which again are not available in grass in winter).
 
Scribbled28 said:
One thing I would watch out for is that it's fast approaching the end of the growing season. Soon it will get too cold for the grass to grow and it will go into hibernation and therefore not easy to chop for food (and not as nutritious? Don't quote me on that - it's an educated guess). Also what do you do when the grass is all frozen? Would you be able to cut it? So I would still try and get a decent hay they will eat over winter especially when I'm sure I've read somewhere that it's the long strands of hay and grasses that are best for digestion (which again are not available in grass in winter).
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This is a good point and very valid.
Right now my four eat predominantly fresh grass, as well as a daily portion of fresh veg, some hay, and very few pellets (or none at all if you are Ruby).
But already the grass is slowing down, and in a month or two it will be covered in snow. At this point they will just start eating more hay - they prefer grass but are not silly enough to starve when they don't get it any more!
I make sure they always have at least 2 types of hay spread across a large hay tray, and then some 'clean' hay in a hay bag.
If I open a bag and no one eats it then I tend to throw it, as sometimes they don't like a particular batch, but this is also thankfully very rare.

So as they get less grass they will naturally just eat more hay.
 
shannonandrosy said:
I am a bit worried. The piggies arent eating their hay. Well not like they should be. They seem to prefer the grass over the hay. Is this okay or should i cut out the grass?
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My piggies love grass best too so at the moment hubby and I collect a large bag of grass with some dandelions and clover every morning . As others have mentioned this will start to disappear soon as the weathers getting colder! Soon, I'll start to give them a little readigrass to make up for the lack of fresh grass and to give them something else to chew on! I love the smell of it too!
 
My hay comes from a farm about 20 miles away. It is definitely worth me getting it from there. This years hay smells like honey :drool: at 5 quid for a farm bale a complete bargain. I can just about squeeze 2 bales of hay in black bin liners into the back of my car with the seats folded down that is!
 
They most certainly do. It gets my taste buds going when I give it a good sniff! I only do this to check which bale to get as I have hay fever and it also make me sneeze!
 
I get meadow hay from my local farm 6 miles from me for £4 for a 10kg bale (it fitted in a 10kg bag, that's how I know) and I get the Timothy hay from Timothyhay.co.uk...the green stuff which they love. but the herd only gets that one several times a week
 
Personaly , yes l would cut out the grass , !! Mine all love Alfafa King Thimathy Hay, they prefer it to dried food, and they like it almost as veggies! Appart from the ocasional handful! The only grass I give them is Ready Grass ! Whilst they like fresh grass , l believe it has minimal nuterant value, and little molar wearing properties
 
gizzy said:
Personaly , yes l would cut out the grass , ! Mine all love Alfafa King Thimathy Hay, they prefer it to dried food, and they like it almost as veggies! Appart from the ocasional handful! The only grass I give them is Ready Grass ! Whilst they like fresh grass , l believe it has minimal nuterant value, and little molar wearing properties
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I have to disagree! grass is massively high in the nutrients that piggies need and the chewing action, plus the silica in grass, helps enormously in wearing down their molars.
 
gizzy said:
Personaly , yes l would cut out the grass , ! Mine all love Alfafa King Thimathy Hay, they prefer it to dried food, and they like it almost as veggies! Appart from the ocasional handful! The only grass I give them is Ready Grass ! Whilst they like fresh grass , l believe it has minimal nuterant value, and little molar wearing properties
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You believe wrong. Fresh grass is very nutritious and wears teeth down.

How could It be otherwise when it's the starting point for hay?

What do you think they eat in the wild?

What is Thimothy? Do you mean Timothy? Alfalfa king is so expensive I don't know how anyone can feed it exclusively.
 
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