Timothy/Clover Hay

[Temee]

Hi there

I have a hard time to finding good pure Timothy hay in my local area, and buying online isn't an option since I have 10 piggies to feed, ask around breeder here in Sweden they are all get hay form local farmers, the recent Timothy hay I got form the farmer found some dried flowers and brown stems with it, asked the farmer what type of those flowers, he said likely are red clover which is also in the farm field.
Does anyone know if is safe to feed my piggies with these type of mix Timothy hay?

15 August 2022

Best Regards

 

[Tnoz]

I buy my hay from a farm in bales and it comes with twigs etc should be ok as Timothy can be expensive, I have 9 piggies to feed , the piggies will only eat what they want too, I’m sure other members will give good advice too. Good luck

 

[Tnoz]

Red clover

 

[Temee]

Thank you for replying, I did also check on the internet and read what you show ,which is worrying as all the babies are now reached 6 months old, and before that they get some handful of alfafa daily, so I don't want these farm hay cause too much calcium, as I gave A Lot for them daily for eat,play, sleep and burrow etc, that's why I need farm hay, if shop online would cost too much and won't be able to provide so many for them

 

[Princess Dustmop]

How much clover are we talking about? It doesn't look like a prominent component in the pictures you're showing. A couple clover flowers isn't going to be a big issue, especially split amongst 10 piggies. It's just like you added some forages to the hay. That's very different from feeding straight alfalfa. I would suspect that pellets (and potentially water) would be a larger factor for calcium that some clover flowers mixed in the hay.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’d have to agree - pellets and calcium do contribute more calcium to the diet. As long as it isn’t a vast amount of red clover then it should still be ok to feed.

Definitely stop giving alfalfa though if you haven’t already. Guinea pigs don’t need it in their diet at all after three weeks of age (once weaned), and even if anybody does choose to give a very small handful of it, alfalfa should ideally be stopped by four months of age.

 

[Temee]

Is that possible to post a unlisted YouTube video link here to show the hay? Is hard to see in the photo

 

[Temee]

Okay, I found a couple of single one that as a whole flower lol my friend said doesn't look like red clover and if farmer don't have good weeds control before sow then anything can grow between, she suspected that white little one are cow parsley, but the white one isn't that much, mostly are like this first photo these big burned unknown flower, I would say is 30-40% in these hay bals mixed with the Timothy.

I mean apart the flowers stuff, the hay are really fresh good hay, they all loved it, as soon as I give new they all rush to eat and burrow themself inside would be nice to know if is okay for daily diet.

 

[Temee]

Red clover

I’d have to agree - pellets and calcium do contribute more calcium to the diet. As long as it isn’t a vast amount of red clover then it should still be ok to feed.

Definitely stop giving alfalfa though if you haven’t already. Guinea pigs don’t need it in their diet at all after three weeks of age (once weaned), and even if anybody does choose to give a very small handful of it, alfalfa should ideally be stopped by four months of age.

Thanks for the heads up, I was reading somewhere that said babies can have alfalfa up to 6 month old, so was planning to stop this month.

 

[Princess Dustmop]

Those aren't red clover if we're talking about Trifolium pratense. However, that first one does look like it might be a Trifolium sp. if those leaves are depicted correctly, maybe Trifolium incarnatum, or crimson clover (different species, different flower shape).
I'm not sure on the second picture; it's a decent picture, I just don't know what it is (or can't identify it in a dried state). I'd believe it's an Apiaceae family plant, as you suspect, but there's a lot of those that look similar.
Last two pictures, I see mostly hay seed heads and the leafy bit in the middle, though it's hard to tell what that is as it's blending in with the hay.

 

[Temee]

Thank you Princess for identifying the flowers for me, since all the site are recommended only moderate amount of those type flowers, I would probably just remove them from the hay just to be safe. Thank you all for the help