# what to do with wasted hay



## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

I am shocked at how much hay my rabbits waste.... I hate putting the rabbit poo in my garden because of all the unwanted grass I am getting from the hay mixed in with the poo. I started trying to separate as much as can easily be separated and filled up a 5 gal bucket in just 2-3 days. 

What do you all do with it?


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## GraceAlice (Jun 7, 2013)

Hmm... well you could get trays for your cages, but I have a pile of rabbit poop/straw/hay/bedding that just disintegrates into the ground.  Goes away in a year, lol.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

Feed less hay? I don't feed much per feeding...a small handful if that. Whatever they don't eat fairly quickly just gets peed on and wasted, so I try not to feed more than they'll eat fairly quickly.

But for what you do have already, you can pile it and compost it down so the seeds are killed. There shouldn't be many seeds in there if it's good hay anyways though.


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## That'll Do Pig (Jan 23, 2014)

That's a good question Sherry. I want to use our rabbit fertilizer but I'm getting a lot of wasted hay as well and I hadn't even thought of all the seeds!
If I come up with a method for killing the seeds I'll let you know. The only thing that comes to mind immediately is cooking them in the oven (gross!) or spraying them down with roundup.


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## LilElk (Jan 16, 2007)

Composting will "cook" the seed. You might try a hay rack and feed small amounts. I try to figure the smallest portion they would eat and cut it in half. If its all gone in the evening then I feed a little more, some eat a lot others eat none at all


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## GreenMomma (Jun 3, 2008)

Plenty of folks will want to gag or punch me for saying this. Sorry in advance, lol.

Get a little pig. I am trying desperately to learn about managed rotational grazing. Learning a lot of things in the last few years of farming that make me feel ill, and this is one of them... I have been mulching in the hay waste from the rabbits to areas that will one day be beautiful, lush small paddocks to rotate our goats and hogs through. These paddocks are mostly meant to one day provide most of our AGH's feed with grasses, root crops, pumpkins, etc.

As I dump the hay waste buckets in the mulch piles, if there is a hog in that paddock, they gladly rummage through the pile, taking what they want. I have been told, as gross as it sounds to me personally, the hogs won't be harmed by eating the poop, if they should choose to. And, again as gross as it sounds to me, there may be nutrients left in the rabbit manure that the hogs can benefit from.

I dump all of my manure in a compost pile for the garden, but I have a few rabbits that play cyclone with their hay and so I just rake and dump that into my mulch piles in the hog pastures. I don't feel like it's all being wasted and I don't end up with teff and oats growing in my lettuce bed.


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## ChocolateMouse (Jul 31, 2013)

Pigs and some other animals have more effective digestion than others and will view the high nutrient waste hay and poo like candy. Typically this happens with omnivores or animals with extraordinarially strong digestives so it isn't a big deal and it is what they would do in the wild. My chickens get my leftovers hay and you bet they eat the poop out of it. I have seen it in their gizzards when a hawk got to some of my hens. I have to fight if I wanna keep my dogs out of chicken and rabbit poop. If they weren't getting chubby as it is I might just let them at it... All of my animals are very healthy afterall and there is good nutritional value in waste hay and rabbit manures. That is why it is good for your garden in the first place.

Most of my hay gets composted in the chicken pen. Nothing grows in there before the chickens eat it anyhow... But I also have a lot in a regular compost pile. It got really hot and that will cook most of the seeds... And the ones on top sprouted, then got composted in. A seed cant sprout twice! I will be mixing my rotted hay and poo compost into my garden beds when we thaw this week, any seeds left will sprout and then I will just dig it into the bed again and cover it up with some fresh garden soil to make raised beds!


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

Stop feeding loose hay and you won't have waste. Feed horse hay cubes or fresh grass instead. 
Or dump everything into compost


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

I live in the town so I don't have the "luxury" of having many farm animals. A few hens (ducks) and rabbits is as far as I can probably push it. It would be cute to get one of those little pop belly pigs but I know my husband would have me committed if I even suggested that one! 

I've got 3 compost bins full now of rabbit manure and hay! The largest is a pallet bin so it's pretty good size. And it's full too!  

I've been intending to get started with worm composting so the poo and the hay will break down faster. That may be my best solution. 

I'm trying some Preen on the last 2 raised beds where I added it straight from the tubs under that cages. I will see if that helps. I do use Round up when/where I can. 

Types of hay in square bales (all I can manage/need) is of very limited type around here. I've only found coastal hay (bermuda grass) other than the compressed bales of timothy or alfalfa at Tractor Supply. 

Thank you for the suggestions.


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## That'll Do Pig (Jan 23, 2014)

ChocolateMouse said:


> And the ones on top sprouted, then got composted in. A seed cant sprout twice!


I think you're on to something here. Adding some moisture while it's warm should get the seeds to sprout and then they can be killed by covering.

I've also seen on YouTube where a guy sifts all of his rabbit poo with some cage wire to remove large pieces of hay.


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

Shoot, I live in north Florida... its ALWAYS warm and moist here.


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## ChocolateMouse (Jul 31, 2013)

I realized that interrupting growth is a great way to keep the seeds from ruining the beds. It is like mixing fodder into your compost pile! I realized what was happening when I dumped a bunch of mouse bedding full of tiny seeds on a batch of cardboard bedding from my inside rabbit and they all sprouted! The chickens picked out most of them... The rest added to the compost!

Sherry, raising a feeder pig doesn't take much space to be fair.


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## bonnie in indiana (May 10, 2002)

Sherry-just gotta say this. Pigs don't take up much room. In fact, many years ago, a friend of mine and his wife lived in a trailer and raised a litter of orphaned piglets to weaning size under their bed.:grin: True story............they live a very odd life style.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I throw it into the chicken pen and let them have it and the wasted rabbit feed. The chickens get seconds of what they get anyway as they get oats and the same hay. Then it is composted, not many weeds that way....James


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## solsikkefarms (Jun 1, 2013)

I collect all my rabbit trash and it goes in the chicken pen for them to scratch up and dig through.


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## countryfied2011 (Jul 5, 2011)

Mine gets thrown into the garden right now with the winter wheat I planted for ground cover. The chickens scratch and then in a couple of months it will be time to turnover the garden and it will all get disc into the ground. It all makes for good fertilizer and green manure.

I have had horses for 15 yrs and feeding hay....you get as much weeds from birds dropping seeds to wind blowing seeds as you would out of most hay.


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

I may already be considered strange by some for raising the ducks and rabbits! I know I've got some relatives from the other side who just don't have a clue about self-reliance and what is being fed to commercial meat animals and put on our veggies. But, that's a difference forum I think!


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

SherryB said:


> I am shocked at how much hay my rabbits waste.... I hate putting the rabbit poo in my garden because of all the unwanted grass I am getting from the hay mixed in with the poo. I started trying to separate as much as can easily be separated and filled up a 5 gal bucket in just 2-3 days.
> 
> What do you all do with it?


I just used several 5 gallon buckets full of the older rabbit poop with some hay mixed in it----to fertilize my irish potatoes I planted. 

With the new hay feeders I built and designed----the cages they are on------there is a very, very small amount of waste---about 2% of what was being wasted. I have several more hay feeders I am building in my spare time till all the cages have them. They should cut my hay cost way down because of hardly no waste.


Edited to add-----Sherry You can separate that hay from the poop by using a fan----poor the poop in front of the fan----the poop falls, the hay blows farther away.


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## OakHollowBoers (Jun 26, 2013)

Sherry, I feed the bermuda squares personally, but if you are wanting something different, I think the feed store on US27 north of Havana gets Timothy or Timothy/Orchard shipped in. Their phone number is 539-3337. You might try calling them, if you are wanting something like that. But like I said, I feed coastal, the buns seem to like it, and it (the good stuff) makes excellent nests.


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

Thank you OakHollow. I like looking around feed stores and I've never been in that one. I may have to check it out. My rabbits seem to like the bermuda grass/coastal hay just fine but I never give them a choice either! My only real issue is the waste and the bermuda grass sprouting up all over my garden!


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

Fire-Man said:


> You can separate that hay from the poop by using a fan----poor the poop in front of the fan----the poop falls, the hay blows farther away.




LOL,LOl...All I can visualize on this is..someone's neighbor making them mad and them putting this fan on the property line blowing the hay at them...lol,lol. I know I ain't right...lol,lol.


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## That'll Do Pig (Jan 23, 2014)

Fire-Man said:


> I just used several 5 gallon buckets full of the older rabbit poop with some hay mixed in it----to fertilize my irish potatoes I planted.
> 
> With the new hay feeders I built and designed----the cages they are on------there is a very, very small amount of waste---about 2% of what was being wasted. I have several more hay feeders I am building in my spare time till all the cages have them. They should cut my hay cost way down because of hardly no waste.
> 
> ...


Let me know how those taters turn out.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

I'd compost it if you want to avoid whole hay in the garden.... We directly add hay to the garden here, and use waste hay/straw to mulch around vine crops and tomatoes. We have 100% SAND for soil here, on all of our 40 acres. Before we had a bunch of animals, the soil quality was horrible in the garden. Now, we see a bit of loamyness to the garden and lots of worms out there, which were previously very rare. We're adding beneficial organic matter to our garden. We end up just tilling in the hay and straw year after year. In the winter, we feed goats their round bales and rotate them around in the garden - concentrating on the areas in the garden known to be nutrient-poor. The rabbit poo we use to make teas and fill the strawberry garden - we also directly apply it to the garden in problem areas or rotate it around.


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## That'll Do Pig (Jan 23, 2014)

Rabbit poo tea... suddenly my cup of tea is less appetizing LOL


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

Lol..lol...hubby calls it Tennessee tea...a lot of the old hillbillies over there(that is where hubby is from)...reduce the poo into a tea before putting it on the gardens.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

That'll Do Pig said:


> Let me know how those taters turn out.


I grew them like that last year as well as some beans etc. Potatoes had twice the potatoes on the same length rows, planted with the same seed potatoes at the same time as the potatoes using 10-10-10 fertilizer. I used Only Rabbit poop, a little chicken poop and some worm castings---mixed with a cement mixer. I called that 3/4 acre section the "Poop Garden"---No Chemical Fertilizer. All the potatoes this year are planted with Poop.. There will be alot planted with the Poop this garden season. I have Many Bags Saved.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Edited!!!


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## That'll Do Pig (Jan 23, 2014)

Fire-Man said:


> I use the rabbit poop mainly in the garden except for what I feed the worms----then I make "worm tea" using worm castings----big time--LOL. For the ones that have not seen my Worm tea dispenser, here is a picture after I had just put out about 200 gallons (of the 275 gallons that were mixed)of worm tea.


Lmao. We live on an awesome sandy loam. I'm sure glad it's not THAT sandy.

Do you have posts about raising worms Fire-man?


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

Fire-Man said:


> I just used several 5 gallon buckets full of the older rabbit poop with some hay mixed in it----to fertilize my irish potatoes I planted.
> 
> With the new hay feeders I built and designed----the cages they are on------there is a very, very small amount of waste---about 2% of what was being wasted. I have several more hay feeders I am building in my spare time till all the cages have them. They should cut my hay cost way down because of hardly no waste.


Interested in sharing what they look like and how you are making them?


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## farmerj (Aug 20, 2011)

learn your animals anatomy...

We got a lesson last night in hay from our vet after one of our 3 chinchilla's died unexpectedly on 2/14....

What we "thought" was wasted hay, actually was not, it was junk and they would have never eaten it. They want the long fiber stuff, not the stemmy stuff which is likely what you are calling "wasted". They discard it because they won't eat it. To harsh on their mouths and to digest it. Rear fermenting stomachs just like horse, rabbit and chins. 

Instructions from the vet:
"Feed less pellets and more high quality loose grass-type hay. Don't get big on alfalfa pellets or hay unless they are pregnant. Since they are all males, you shouldn't have to worry about that."


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Edited!!!!


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Ziptie said:


> Interested in sharing what they look like and how you are making them?


 I will get some pictures!


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Sorry Sherry, I think I have Hi-jacked your thread------I type(talk) To much. I will be quiet!!


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

Yes, I try to give them all the hay they will eat as I understand it is healthy for them. 

Good info farmerj


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## farmerj (Aug 20, 2011)

SherryB said:


> Yes, I try to give them all the hay they will eat as I understand it is healthy for them.
> 
> Good info farmerj



She's got a facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wate...10119242362782?ref=hlrtown-Veterinary-Clinic/

Dr Katrina.


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## tentance (Aug 16, 2012)

my rabbits waste a lot of hay as well, though mostly because it falls through the floor of their pens. We are only a few hundred miles south of you in hernando, on 2/10ths of an acre. My solution to any excess rabbit manure and spent grass is to keep it all mixed (it would take too long to separate) and build sunken gardens in the sand. I also have built a rabbit poop manure brewer that i really need to take some photos of. It's a 55 gal blue barrel, previously used for nasty printing chemicals, cut in half, with the top inverted and resting on the bottom, which i have installed a spigot. bunny poop and (mostly rain) water go into the top, manure brew is harvested from the bottom via the spigot whenever i want. i even threw in a garden worm last year and there is now, somehow, a lot of worms living in that rabbit poop/grass/fallen leaves mix. the mix is also wonderful for potted plants. 
of course, i only have a few rabbits, so consider the sunken garden beds. the wasted hay will break down in no time here in sunny florida. you should see my cannas!

Last spring's rabbit poop sunken bed experiment (yes, all that squash fed the rabbits) very little time and energy to grow rabbit food, cannas, blah blah blah


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## SherryB (Oct 10, 2012)

tentance, yes I agree the wasted hay is what they drop and for me, it then falls into the trays along with the poo.

I am very interested in a pic of what you reference with the barrels. I have a rain barrel that burst a hole in it and before my hubby drags it out to be thrown away, I've been trying to envision a use for it something like you mention.

Would you please post a pic... soon since I can't hold back when hubby might get rid of my barrel!

Looks like you let the grass just grow up in the beds you made and the squash plants look like they are surviving just fine!


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