# How long will hay last?



## guessa1 (Jun 11, 2014)

We got a bale of hay and have kept it in the barn out of the elements, and it is free choice to our 2 goats. I was just wondering, we've had it since May and it seems to be more strawish now than hayish....is that okay for them to keep eating it? Is it just that it's not as nutritious for them? We also give a few alfalfa cubes broken up at dinner time. Should I just go out and buy a fresh bale? How long should a bale of hay last for 2 goats? This will be our first winter with goats. Do I need to buy hay now to store for the winter? Sorry if these are really dumb questions. Everyone on this forum has been so helpful! 

Oh it's oat hay...what we currently have.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

I'm assuming your goats have been filling themselves with pasture and browse and ignoring this hay all summer?

If the bale has been dry then it should be perfectly safe for them to eat but yes, being open and exposed to sunlight it will have lost protein value and any moisture and they probably won't eat it at this point. I'm not very familiar with oat hay - does it still have the oats? If not I would think it was more of a straw? Not sure how much protein it had to start with!

You should definitely begin to buy and store and hay for winter as soon as possible. Goats need about 4 lbs of hay per day on average so you will need to know how much the bales weight and how long your winter is to figure out how much to buy. Look for a good quality mixed grass/alfalfa hay if you can find it. Most square bales are about 40lbs so that would last you 5 days between the two goats if they were on hay only. Of course you can feed alfalfa cubes or pellets and decrease the amount of hay and/or just buy mixed grass hay.

I feed hay free-choice so they get as much as they want all winter but I use 4lbs/head/day as an estimate.

Does that help? Sorry it was so long-winded!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

It's fine for them to eat, but if they've got tastier stuff like pasture around, they'll generally go for that instead. The sun bleached hay will lose some nutritional value, but inside the bale is probably fine. You might want to open the bale and spread it around, might get them to eat some of it so it isn't completely wasted. They maybe just don't like that hay though. I would try alfalfa or an alfalfa/grass mix of some sort. I like a timothy/alfalfa mix. 

And yes, definitely get your hay now and stock up while it's more easily available. Going into winter, it can be harder to find and pricier.


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## guessa1 (Jun 11, 2014)

Hey- thank you all so much! I like long-winded replies- it gives me more info! And I need all the info I can get!  So if it was a tastier hay like alfalfa, then they would have already eaten this bale down to the ground, huh? They absolutely gobble the broken up alfalfa cubes that we give with their pellets and sweet feed in the evening, so I guess that shouldn't be too surprising to me.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Yeah, it very well could be the hay. I don't think oat hay is all that popular with the goats, but i've never fed it. Mine get straight alfalfa and will eat that before they eat browse.


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## FarmerJen (Oct 18, 2012)

Mine get straight alfalfa too, but with all the browse this summer, they aren't eating much of it - maybe a flake every 3-4 days between the 3 of them. In winter, I feed a flake of alfalfa each morning (for 3 does) and a flake of grass hay or orchard/alfalfa mix (depending on what was available when I stocked up) in the evening, plus their grain rations. We have much larger bales here though - averaging 80-110 lb per square bale. 

With only two goats, I would avoid making an entire bale available to them. I give mine a flake or two at a time, in a feeder. If I were to put a bale out there, they'd have the whole thing torn apart and scattered all over, at which point they would no longer consider it food. They will choose the "prime" parts of the hay and discard the rest if they know there's more prime bites available. Whereas, they'll start eating the stemmier stuff if they only get a limited amount.


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## guessa1 (Jun 11, 2014)

Thanks! I think we will look for an alfalfa hay or something other than oat hay this time! 

Is it beneficial to buy the hay rounds that are wrapped?


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