Finally! Good quality hay to your door! - 22/03/2006
We are really pleased to be working with Lisa and the team at "The Hay Experts" to make sure the very best quality hays and edible toys are available to small furries all over the UK.
Green Fields Rescue began selling our hugely popular timothy and rye grass hay (Now branded as "FIELD FRESH HAY") when we found that advising owners who were about to adopt from our rescue to buy good quality hay left them a virtually impossible task! They wanted to buy what we fed the rescue animals and thanks to the support of our wonderful farmer Bill, we were able to help. Hay sales is now the second largest way in which Green Fields Rescue raises funding, after Holiday Boarding.
As any experienced bunny or guinea owner will know, a hay rich diet is the number 1 key to maintaining your animals health. The Rabbit Welfare Association recommends that 80% of a rabbits diet is made up of hay and grass and yet most rabbits in the UK are lucky to have a diet made up of even 20-30% hay.
Hay is essential for healthy digestion & healthy teeth as well as the psychological benefits that foraging on the hay brings. However, poor quality, dry, dusty hay can bring along all kinds of unwanted visitors including hay mites and fungal spores leading to skin infections and respiratory irritation from the dust and mould spores. The majority of plastic packed hay sold in pet shops is far too old to be appetising to your small furries and much of it is the poorest quality hay sold off cheaply as pet bedding by farmers keen to clear any left over bales of hay before the new seasons hay is harvested. This means that the hay sold in pet shops can be up to a year old before it even reaches the shelves. Once the hay has been plastic packed and sitting in warm warehouses and shops it begins to sweat and any fungal spores will quickly turn to mould. Is it any surprise then that the rabbits and guineas wont eat it!!
FIELD FRESH HAY, by contrast to that available in pet shops, is this seasons harvest of the most succulent leafy stems of tasty timothy and rye grasses. The hay is actually harvested in 2 "cuts" a few months apart to ensure the freshest crop as the seasons change. The bales are stored to our farmers exacting and careful standards to promote freshness and cleanliness at all times. These bales are then broken into breathable packets by The Hay Experts and delivered to you by post or put into bags for sale at the rescue. It truely is as fresh from the field as you can get and as we are Green Fields Rescue FIELD FRESH HAY seemed to be the perfect name for it! You will very quickly see the difference between this hay and the dry, crispy, brown hay from pet shops. It looks green and smells sweet and fresh and your furries will fall on it as if they have never been fed before!Its so fresh that often we notice that the bunnies get green grassy stains on their paws, just as if they had been out grazing on the grass. This is because the hay doesnt have to be kiln dried to preserve it prior to transport like many foreign grown hays so it retains its natural succulence and moisture. Even the fussiest of bunnies seem to love FIELD FRESH HAY and the rescued bunnies and our own house rabbits wont eat anything else. There are already so many FIELD FRESH fans out there that we often have a queue of people waiting to buy our hay when we open the rescue on a Sunday!
But, we know that Green Fields relatively short opening hours, along with the fact that many people who adopt animals from us live a long distance from the rescue, means it can be really inconvienent to come to us to buy more hay. We were working on ways to resolve this when just at the right time The Hay Experts approached us about working together. Now you can order FIELD FRESH HAY at the click of your mouse and have it delivered to your door! Dont worry, you are still supporting the rescue as The Hay Experts make a donation to us for every sale.
Why not see what else is available at The Hay Experts too? Chewable toys as well as several other varietys of hay and grass products are all in the shop for you to browse at your leisure. Most of their ranges come with sample sizes so you dont have to commit to an expensive order if you arent sure what your bunnies or guineas will like. Just spend a few pounds on samples and give them the choice.
Click on www.thehayexperts.co.uk and see if YOUR hay experts can taste the difference!
