Strange leaf in HAY?! Advice please?

[Kirsty]

Hi all,
I brought some hay from a farm shop. It's the usual place I go to as they do a large bale for £5.50 and it's lovely green meadow hay! however, this bale I got yesturday has a lot of these leafs and stems in? Is it ok for my guinea pigs to eat? I have been trying my best to pick it out. But there so small it's hard to get them all. I can't seem to find what they even are!
See attached images,
Thanks xx

 

[Bill & Ted]

I’m usually quite good with identifying plants but I can’t think what these are? I would try and pull any out you find, I sometimes get sorrel in my farm hay, I find piggies are quite good at discriminating between what they should eat and what they shouldn’t x

 

[Kirsty]

I’m usually quite good with identifying plants but I can’t think what these are? I would try and pull any out you find, I sometimes get sorrel in my farm hay, I find piggies are quite good at discriminating between what they should eat and what they shouldn’t x

Thanks!
The leaves are sort of very thin and crumble as they are dry!
Someone on a group told me it could be cotton buds (the plant kind) I can see similarities in it, but not entirely sure whether it is or not, or whether it is safe! Thanks for your help though x

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all,
I brought some hay from a farm shop. It's the usual place I go to as they do a large bale for £5.50 and it's lovely green meadow hay! however, this bale I got yesturday has a lot of these leafs and stems in? Is it ok for my guinea pigs to eat? I have been trying my best to pick it out. But there so small it's hard to get them all. I can't seem to find what they even are!
See attached images,
Thanks xx

Sorry, I can't help. Just remove anything you can't identify. Considering the volumes of hay that are produced and harvested for the equine and the fast growing pet trade, you occasionally get some other stuff in there are since it is grown out in the open.

 

[VickiA]

I’ve no idea what that is, but I would remove it. I’m always removing strange looking grasses/twiggy things from my hay.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Cotton plant might be very possible as some hay comes from the USA and other places too. It was a particularly poor crop in the UK last year due to the dry and hot conditions and more has been imported to keep up with demand here. I’d just pull out

 

[Reggie&Chunk]

Looks to me like it could be the dry seeds of a cow parsley plant, a weed you would often find in hay fields. Not sure if it’s safe for piggies, my motto is “if in doubt, take it out!”

 

[Kirsty]

Looks to me like it could be the dry seeds of a cow parsley plant, a weed you would often find in hay fields. Not sure if it’s safe for piggies, my motto is “if in doubt, take it out!”

That's a good shout! I've just googled a picture and the seeded part does look very similar! It's just the stems that look different like how they are situated. I've googled and guinea pigs can eat cow parsley so that's good. X