Shortage of bedding

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At my local supplier I managed to obtain a bag of Aubiose, however it is in short supply but I was also told that other bedding is is short supply.
1) Shavings are getting harder to get because the building trade is in recession and they are a by product so horse people are using alternatives such as Aubiose etc.
2) Straw is short because of the weather , a lot of straw has rotted in the fields because it has been too wet to bale.
3) Hay, because of the bad weather a lot has been put into large bales which you can't get into a car and you need something to move it with ie tractor or forklift. Because of the way this hay is baled it is not easy to bag and time consuming making it dearer to buy in smaller quantities.
 
sokel said:
Yes hay and straw are definatly going to be a nigtmare to get.
I know farmers who have lost all their crops so are having to buy it in from other areas,so when you think of all these farmers who are buying up to 1,000 bales in its bound to leave very little for the people who only buy the odd bale.
Some places have jumped in on this and have put small bales up to £5 a bale :x
we have managed to get 150 bales here from our normal supplier at the normal price of £2 a bale and have reserved another 150 for when we have room to store it
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where are you storing your 150 bales graham?
 
sokel said:
I am not lucky its a case of if you have animals you need somewhere to store hay and feed and we use 2 bales of hay a day
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well, we store it under our cage. its on three decorating tables, so it has loads of space underneath, but not enough for 150 bales of hay! now i feel totally irresponisble having four guinea pigs, as i live in a one bedroom flat...
 
I'm not on the scale of Graham obviously but I have noticed a shortage of hay. I have put the boys on hay as its gone a little cooler in the shed and its better for hiding under. I usually buy the small bales from Tesco but they haven't had any. I store my supplies in my utility room as there is plenty of room there and once opened I transfer it to the shed. :)
 
I suppose as well because I work in a supermarket, I can buy a few bales a week or as needed, so I don't need to keep as much stock in. Though under the decorating tables is full of hay, carefresh, nugget food, wood shavings and fleece. In fact, I even have some fleece in my wardrobe which is theres, I just remembered! But silly old me cut it all to fit their old cages, so now they've got a huge cage i really should buy some more fleece and towels that are bigger, then lie the smaller bits on top so they can bury under the little pieces without us worrying that they could be sitting on the floor tiles by the time we get home from work! x
 
sokel said:
Yea but we have 3 horses 7 goats,can have as many as 30 GPs in and then the chinchillas so we get through a lot of hay :))
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i'm sooooo jelous! are chins hard to look after? we nearly got a chinchilla instead of guinea pigs, but i put my foot down and got piggies as i felt more confident about them as I'd researched them for over 10years beforehand
 
My recent bale of hay just isn't as good as other years. Although it is fresh this year, it hasn't the sweet smell about it ... infact a bit musty. :(
I haven't started using it yet, but will make sure that it is ok for my piggies.

I reckon my farmer just had to bale it as soon as he could and it didn't get that period of time lying in the field in the sun.

150 bales, Sokel!
Two bales a day ... that takes some doing! :)
 
sokel said:
With the right research chins are not to hard to look after although they are not for someone who is a light sleeper :)) they crash around the cages all night long and doze most of the day
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my hamster used to wake me all the time! but it was only because I'm a light sleeper when i have nocturnal animals as i want to see them!! LOL! i think we made the right choice to have piggies, and we chose the right piggies for us. their cage is roughly 45inches by 90inches with an extra bit in one corner for a "restaurant area". http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=25250 this shows their cage. but saying that, i do love chins! my friend has one and he is such a darling! if i win the lotto, i'll buy a big house and have lots of animals!
 
I currently use hay inside my girl's wooden house but I might start looking at using something else for the bed-compartment so that way we are using slightly less hay. I haven't noticed a shortage as yet up here but I'll forward plan, just in case.
 
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My o.h said that his friend who is a farmer said that by winter hay could be going up to £10 a bale.:(
 
blimmin heck.
Think I will start buying big bales then, can fit a number in my garage!
I have never bought bales before though, what sort of thing am I looking for, it has to be horse quality, but how do I know if its a 'good' bale or not?
 
I can't buy bales from farms as it has to come through the house and it gets everywhere. We don't have a back gate! Up to now the hay I buy for munching is £1.70 a bag and lasts 4 days so its pretty big. :)
 
As far as I am aware' big bales' can only be moved be tractor etc .They are at least 5-6 times the size of standard farm bales( not the packets from supermarkets). A bale of hay is about 4-4.5 feet long , a bale lasts me about a month for 12 piggies and 2 buns and they have a least a big handfull each every day.
 
starla said:
blimmin heck.
Think I will start buying big bales then, can fit a number in my garage!
I have never bought bales before though, what sort of thing am I looking for, it has to be horse quality, but how do I know if its a 'good' bale or not?
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A good crop of hay will be dry, smell sweet (but not too sweet, if it's not really got an overpowering smell at all, that's fine too, since the quality is so varied now and depends on the grass) and shouldn't have any mold or musty smells. It also shouldn't feel damp or warm in your hands.

Basically, the kind of hay you buy regularly out of the petshops etc. is good quality, and tends to smell sweeter because it's often meadow hay. But if you go with that sort of quality you should be just fine. :)
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
I can't buy bales from farms as it has to come through the house and it gets everywhere. We don't have a back gate! Up to now the hay I buy for munching is £1.70 a bag and lasts 4 days so its pretty big. :)
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You can get zip up bags that will hold a bale of hay or put it in a wheelie bin size bin bag to carry it through the house
 
susie_q said:
A good crop of hay will be dry, smell sweet (but not too sweet, if it's not really got an overpowering smell at all, that's fine too, since the quality is so varied now and depends on the grass) and shouldn't have any mold or musty smells. It also shouldn't feel damp or warm in your hands.

Basically, the kind of hay you buy regularly out of the petshops etc. is good quality, and tends to smell sweeter because it's often meadow hay. But if you go with that sort of quality you should be just fine. :)
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thank you i'll start looking tomorrow :)
 
My local farm still has loads of hay and its good quality but when that goes..? I use dustfree hay as well.
I havent been able to get aubiose either and the easibed has been all bought up because there is no aubiose but I have been using laysoft from my local farm and there seems to be no shortage of that at the moment-I really like it, not as much as aubiose but a good alternative.
 
Thanks Denise and Graham I didn't think of that! You should have see the mess I got myself into last September with a massive bale of hay...lol

I think i'll try and bagsy another wheelie bin from the council it would come in very handy! :)
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
Thanks Denise and Graham I didn't think of that! You should have see the mess I got myself into last September with a massive bale of hay...lol

I think i'll try and bagsy another wheelie bin from the council it would come in very handy! :)
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Louise i store my bales in old single quilt covers, i take my covers to the farm shop with me then in the piggy shed i shove the whole bale (in its cover) into a wheelie bin before i cut the strings. :)
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
I can't buy bales from farms as it has to come through the house and it gets everywhere. We don't have a back gate!
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When I get my bale of hay, I put it in one of those really large bags that chippings etc. get delivered in. Try B&Q or Jewson, if you want one.
It is also good for storing it in when I get a new bale but not quite finished using the previous lot of hay.
 
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