Wasteful timothy hay

Best not to see hay you throw away as wasted.
If they have been able to forage through it, play in it etc then it has had its good usage. It’s much more than just food:

I get through kilos of hay every month (probably around 40kg every 5/6 weeks) between six animals using it for bedding and for eating. I throw a lot away but they’ve had their fun with it so it wasn’t wasted.
 
That’s good - they’re having fun with it.

I use a cheaper meadow hay as bedding everywhere in their cages; and then throw in a handful or two at a time of a more expensive orchard hay. They eat all types in large amounts and that way they get variety but it’s the cheaper hay which tends to be the one that I throw away most
 
If they are eating hay then their teeth will be fine.
Any grass hay wears the teeth
 
Hay is never wasted! They've run through it, hidden in it, made hay tunnels in it and eaten their way out. Eaten it, slept in it, pooped on it, weed on it and found their food in it (if you scatter feed) and generally had fun with it. How is that wasted? Hay is an endless source of enrichment for piggies.
 
Different hays have different nutritional values, the mix of grasses in meadow hay gives a variety, some are more coarse than others but otherwise they chew it all the same and it has the same effect on the teeth regardless

Ive kept small animals for 35 or so years and fed only meadow hay in all that time. I only started adding in orchard (before then I did add in Timothy until I had delivery issues with the company I was using) because I heard of good online suppliers on this forum and was able to afford the higher cost. If it wasn’t for those suppliers I’d be feeding just meadow hay and there may come a time when I go back to feeding just meadow hay.

You might find this guide useful
A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)
 
We cannot seem to get orchard hay here. I have been told they are the same product just different names.
 
Jelly/Jam said:
We cannot seem to get orchard hay here. I have been told they are the same product just different names.
Click to expand...

The guide does say orchard is not widely available in the US so that is probably why you can’t find it.

They are different products - meadow, orchard and Timothy are three different types
 
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