Other ways to check hay's freshness?

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I think this is the right place... anyway, I just got a big half-bale of meadow hay from my local pet supply, who brings it in locally from a farm in Baildon (just over the hill, within an ten-minute drive). But the probelm is, this is the first large amount of hay I can remember having to check for myself.

The primary issue is that I know that bad hay smells 'musty' but I don't know what musty smells like, since I've had the last decade with my sinuses scarred from a bad infection when I was ten, and have only just started to regain my sense of smell - most of which are entirely new to me, since a decade is more than long enough to forget.

It seems cool and dry, and from what I can tell, just smells like dried grass. Is that right to offer?

(oh, and for any one wondering - the black 'pig in my new avatar is Vin-bean, my gf's latest addition. He's a fat little boar with a hella load of character!)
 
Yes that sounds right to me. You will know if a bale smells musty as it isn't a pleasant smell where as fresh hay has a nice grassy smell to it. When I am choosing my hay bales, I always go for the ones that look the greenest as well.

Hay shouldn't smell musty and / or feel damp to the touch
 
I would also check for weeds and thistles and things with thorns and piggies have soft tender feet like ours. My mum gave me some of her horsey hay and i must have spent more time picking thistles out of it than the time it took to empty and clean the hutch....

musty is a sort of mouldy sour sweet smell if that helps at all?
 
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